India vs England: Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan left out of squad for first two Tests as Dhruv Jurel earns maiden call-up

India vs England: Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan left out of squad for first two Tests as Dhruv Jurel earns maiden call-up

Mohammed Shami and Ishan Kishan were on Friday left out of India’s squad for the first two Tests against England in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam while Dhruv Jurel was handed a maiden call-up.

Shami is yet to recover from an ankle injury that he had picked up during the ICC World Cup while Kishan has been asked to prove his fitness in the Ranji Trophy before making his way back into the Indian team after taking a break for mental health reasons.

Jurel has collected 790 runs in 15 First-Class appearances at an average of 46.47 with a century and five fifties to his name, besides 36 dismissals with the big gloves. The Uttar Pradesh cricketer has gone past fifty in each of his last two appearances, including a patient 69 in India A’s second unofficial Test against South Africa A in Benoni.

Jurel is one of the three wicketkeepers included in the squad besides KL Rahul and Srikar Bharat, with the former likely to don the gloves in the first two Tests due to his superior batting skills. Rahul had recently scored a gritty century on a tough Centurion wicket in the first Test against South Africa.

In Shami’s absence, India have decided to include Avesh Khan as their third frontline pace option after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Avesh replaces Prasidh Krishna, who had a forgettable Test debut in Centurion but put up a much better display in the second Test in Cape Town. Also missing out is all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who was benched for the second Test after leaking over a 100 runs at more than four-an-over in Centurion.

As for the pace department, left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav return to the lineup, though only one of them is likely to join senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the Indian XI.

The first Test of five Tests between the two sides takes place at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and gets underway on 25 January. Visakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA Stadium hosts the second match starting 2 February.

England had announced their squad for the India tour with back in December with off-spinner Rehan Ahmed earning a recall after a year and three uncapped players — pacer Gus Atkinson and spinners Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir — getting included in the 16-man squad.

The upcoming Test series will be the first of the ‘Bazball’ Era, in which captain Ben Stokes and red-ball coach Brendon McCullum introduced an attacking style of cricket that has taken Test cricket by storm.

India squad for first two Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Srikar Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.