NEW DELHI: The selectors on Wednesday retained 17 of the 18 members in the Indian squad for the final two Tests against England while senior pacer Umesh Yadav’s inclusion would depend on his fitness assessment ahead of the day/night game in Ahmedabad.
Shardul Thakur is the only player who has not been kept as he will be released to compete in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The anticipation was around senior pacer Mohammed Shami’s fitness and it has been learnt that he is still not 100% fit for the rigours of five-day games.
“Umesh Yadav will join the team in Ahmedabad and after his fitness assessment and will replace Shardul Thakur, who will be released for Vijay Hazare Trophy,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah was quoted as saying in a press release.
Predictably, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has been dropped from stand-by list after his poor show in the first Test. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and keeper-batsman Kona Srikar Bharat are stand-by players.
Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran have also been released to play Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The five net bowlers, who were in Chennai will also join the team in Ahmedabad. They are Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham and Saurabh Kumar
Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
