Indian Cricket Board announces squad for first two Test against England

Team India have announced their squad for the first two test matches against England. The Men in Blue will be playing a 5-match Test series against Ben Stokes's side. The 1st Test is scheduled to begin on the 25th January. Rohit Sharma's side are currently placed in the 2nd position of the table in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle with 54.16 PCT. In their last test series against South Africa, the side made a sensational comeback in the 2nd Test winning the game and drawing the series 1-1. 

This is going to be a series of high relevance as Rohit's side has the chance to clean-sweep the English team at home and make a dominant position in the WTC points table. India's last home Test series loss came during England's tour of India in 2012-13. The Indian cricket team holds the record for most consecutive Test series wins at home. The Indians have won 15 consecutive Test series on home soil from February 2013 till present. 

Big names like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who are on a break, have been back for the first two test Tests. The side have named three wicket-keepers with the most surprising pick being Dhruv Jurel the 22-year-old batter from Uttar Pradesh, Ishan Kishan has been snubbed off from the longest format of the game after getting a chance in the West Indies series. 

Kuldeep Yadav returns to side

Axar Patel and Kuldeep have also returned to the Test squad after missing out on the tour of South Africa while Shardul Thakur has also dropped out after the series against the Proteas. Prasidh Krishna did not find a place in the side after his poor show in the Rainbow nation and Avesh Khan has been brought to the side. 

Mohammed Shami is still recovering from injury and as per the reports he was set to miss the first two games against the Three Lions. It will be interesting to watch whether young Jurel will make a debut against England in the home series. This is India's last assignment before the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the T20 World Cup 2024. 

India Squad for first 2 Tests vs England

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan