BCCI announces India squad for last two Tests against England

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced India’s squad for the last two Tests against England. The selectors haven’t made major changes to the team that played the first couple of matches.

However, pacer Mohammed Shami hasn’t been included. Reports had earlier surfaced that Shami and Navdeep Saini were recovering well and could be available for the Pink Ball Test. But India will have to make do without them in their bid to make it to the final of the World Test Championship. The only major change is Shardul Thakur being released from the main squad to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Umesh Yadav will replace him and join the team in Ahmedabad after his fitness assessment.

KS Bharat and Rahul Chahar are among the standby players and will be with the team for the last two Tests. Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham and Saurabh Kumar are among the net bowlers. Meanwhile, other standby players Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Priyank Panchal have also been released to feature in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Here’s the full squad:

Standby players – KS Bharat, Rahul Chahar

Net Bowlers – Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, and Saurabh Kumar

Series levelled at 1-1 after two Tests

The four-match Test series is currently levelled at 1-1. After England won the opening Test by 227 runs, the hosts made a stunning comeback to level the series in the second. The third Test will be played with the pink ball under lights from February 24 and the last of the four-match series will also take place at the same venue.

50% of spectators will also be allowed at Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium and the tickets are already sold out. As many as 50,000 thousand fans will cheer for the home team during India’s only second day-night Test at home.