After winning the Test in Australia, the Indian Selection committee not assembling the 18 Men’s squad team for the upcoming Test matches against England which is going to start next month.
The squad was selected by a newly Indian selection committee headed by former India’s fast bowler Chetan Sharma. He attended the meeting virtually where India’s Caption Virat Kohli was presented. There were 4 other selectors: Sunil Joshi, Abey Kuruvilla, Debashish Mohanty, and Harvinder Singh also presented from Brisbane. The meeting took place after when India won the 5th Test match against Australia.
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Hardik Pandya was the first player who was added to the 18 men’s squad. Caption Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma also added to the Team. Ishant Sharma has missed the Test series in Australia. He was recovering from his injuries that he picked up during the IPL, Now completed his recovery in the mid-November but didn’t go to Australia due to the Covid-19 rules.
Along with Ishant, the Indian fast bowling attack will comprise Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur. Both Siraj and Thakur were part of India’s historic series win against Australia.
Pandya is selected as a Specialist Batsman:
Hardik Pandya is selected as a specialist batsman he played 11 Test matches and his final match was in 2018 against England. He lost his father last week.
Pandya underwent back surgery which limited his role to primarily as a batsman. In the IPL 2020 season, he didn’t bowl in the matches that’s why he is only selected as the specialist batsman.
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Patel Or Nadeem will Take Jadeja’s role
In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, who had finger surgery recently after the Sydney Test, The selector needs to lookout for the best replacement for his place. The selectors want a third option in addition to R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav.
Shahbaz Nadeem and Patel are the best option for Jadeja’s replacement. Nadeem is an experience and successful allrounder in India A. however the selector preferred Patel, Who played Test matches for India but His lower-order batting prowess made an impact in the Test match segment. On the other hand, Nadeem has weaker bowling form in the last two years but he was a better batsman compared to patel.
Rahul Return From the second Test
Rahul, Who has not played in the longer format for a while, sprained his wrist midway into the Test series in Australia. However, he is currently resting and recovering from the injury. The selector has drafted him for the England series from the 2nd Test.
The selectors are set to meet once again during or immediately after the second Test to pick to update the squad for the final two matches of the series including the day-night Tests, which will be played in the newly built ground in Motera.
The Indian Selection committee will assess the fitness status of the fast bowling pair Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav along with Jadeja, who picked up injuries in Australia.
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Natarajan Rested
T Natarajan, who made his debut for India in all three formats on the Australian Tour, has been rested by the selectors. He traveled to Australia directly after completing playing IPL 2020 and missed the birth of his daughter. Currently, he was rested and would be ready for the white-ball segment of the homes series against England, which comprises five T20Is and three ODIs.
Main squad:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after the first Test), Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar