England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday (December 11) announced their 16-member squad for the upcoming Test tour of India.

The squad features three uncapped players with Surrey pacer Gus Atkinson joined by off-spinners Tom Hartley (Lancashire) and Shoaib Bashir (Somerset).

Atkinson has been rewarded a place for his impressive exploits in the County Championship. The right-arm quick picked up 20 wickets in five County Championship matches last summer at an average of 20.20 as Surrey claimed back-to-back titles.

Hartley and Bashir were part of the England Lions squad that trained in the United Arab Emirates last month. They were joined in the UAE by vice-captain Ollie Pope and Jack Leach, who also fine-tuned their preparations on return to Test duty after recovering from injuries.

Leicestershire’s teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has been included in the Test squad as well. Rehan claimed a five-wicket haul on his Test debut in Pakistan last December.

England will travel to India for a five-match Test series, scheduled to be played from January 25 to March 11.

England Test squad: Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Ben Stokes (captain), Mark Wood

(ECB Inputs)