On the day of historic test match win against Australia in the Australian soil, India announced their squad for 1st 2 test matches of upcoming test series against England which starts from the 5th February.
Now team India is too much self confident and also looking dangerous for other teams. The new selection committee panel met for the first time today and selected the squad.
India squad for 1st two test matches against England:Virat Kohli ( C), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha ( wk) , Hardik pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Chandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar , Axar Patel.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill performed very well in Border Gavaskar Trophy. They are automatic choice and Mayank Agarwal is chosed as a backup. In no 3 no one is appropriate than the current wall of India Pujara . No 4 and no. 5 is allotted for the captain Virat Kohli who missed the 2nd, 3rd and 4th match of the India vs Australia historic match due to his parental leave and Ajinkya Rahane. As a wicket keeper Batsman obviously Rishabh Pant is the 1st choice of the team management remembering his battle against world’s no 1 bowling lineup.
Wriddhiman Saha is chosen as a backup. His keeping quality is good but batting is too much poor. Hanuma Vihari will be missed due to injury and Kl Rahul will replace him. Jadeja also missed this series for his finger injury and Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel,who performed very well in the domestic circuit are selected on performance basis.
For the pace bowling line up selectors chose Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma ,Shardul Thakur and Md. Siraj. Ishant sharma missed the Australia tour but now he is fully fit but Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Md. Shami is not fit till now. Jasprit Bumrah likely to debut in the home test match as he has played all test matches overseas till now. Shardul Thakur and Md. Siraj performed exceptionally well and as a result both of them are chosen to play against Joe Root and co.
For the spin department Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar were included in the team. Sundar who made debut in the 4th test against Australia performed good in bowling as well as batting. His IPL performance is also notable, while in the 1st innings of the Brisbane test Indian top order failed to score then the partnership between Thakur and Sundar helped India to achieve the goal.
Probable playing XI for team India:
Rohit Sharma Shubman Gill Cheteshwar Pujara Virat Kohli (C)
Ajinkya Rahane Rishabh pant (wk) Washington Sundar Ravichandran Ashwin
Jasprit Bumrah Ishant Sharma Md. Siraj
