BCCI has announced the India squad for first 2 tests against England. A total of 18 players are selected along with 5 standby players and 5 net bowlers. Kohli, the spearhead, is back from his paternity leave. Ishant Sharma has also recovered from his rib injury and is back in the squad. Hardik Pandya too returns after a series break given to him.
Prithvi Shaw is dropped after his poor outings in Australia
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal will be the opening choices available. T Natarajan is left out even after a good performance on debut against Australia. Jasprit Bumrah will lead the pace attack along with Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Siraj and Shardul Thakur as the other bowling options. Injured Hanuma Vihari, Umesh Yadav and Mohd. Shami were not available. An interesting inclusion of Axar Patel was done maybe due to his first-class experience in home conditions.
Washington Sundar has retained his spot after an impressive performance last series while Kuldeep Yadav got a cut too. India now has plenty of all-round options available in the form of Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin and Axar Patel. It will be interesting to see who makes it to the final eleven.
India squad for first 2 tests vs England
| Virat Kohli (c ) | Rohit Sharma | Shubman Gill | Mayank Agarwal |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | Ajinka Rahne (vc) | KL Rahul | Hardik Pandya |
| Rishabh Pant (wk) | Wriddhiman Saha (wk) | R Ashwin | Kuldeep Yadav |
| Axar Patel | W Sundar | Ishant Sharma | Jasprit Bumrah |
| Md Siraj | Shardul Thakur |
Standby Players for first 2 tests vs England
| K S Bharat (wk) | Abhimanyu Easwaran | Shahbaz Nadeem | |
| Priyank Panchal | Rahul Chahar |
Net Bowlers for first 2 tests vs England
| Ankit Rajpoot | Krishnappa Gowthem |
| Sandeep Warrier | Avesh Khan |
| Saurabh Kumar |
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