The All-India Selection Committee on Sunday picked India’s Test squad for the fifth rescheduled Test against England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, from July 1-5.
Top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has made his return to the national team after delivering stupendous performances for Sussex in the County Championship Division Two. Earlier, he was dropped from the squad for the home series against Sri Lanka.
During the England tour last summer, fast bowler Prasidh Krishna was added to India’s squad for the fourth Test. He was on the standby list and had been training with the Indian team since then. The 26-year-old pacer features in the squad again this time around.
Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma are the notable absentees for the England tour. They were a part of the Test squad last year but could not find a spot in the final 17 this time.
The fifth and final Test between England and India, which was supposed to be held in Manchester last year, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp.
At that time, the BCCI and ECB held several meetings to find a way to play the match; however, several cases of COVID-19 in the Indian contingent forced both the boards to call off the game.
India squad for the rescheduled fifth Test against England:
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.