Cheteshwar Pujara, who was dropped for the home Test series against South Africa has been included in India’s 17-member Test squad for the fifth rescheduled Test against England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 1-5.
Pujara has been in a red-hot form for Sussex in the ongoing county championship. With scores of 6, 201 not out, 109, 12, 203, 16, 170*, and 3 Pujara has forced the selectors to pick him for the rescheduled fifth Test. Pujara has mustered 720 runs in eight innings for Sussex.
Ravindra Jadeja, whose IPL season ended with a rib injury, is also part of the touring party. KS Bharat has been included as the second wicketkeeper, while Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna, too makes the cut.
India were leading 2-1 when the match was called off after the visiting players refused to step on to the field following positive COVID-19 cases among its support staff, including head coach Ravi Shastri.
Jammu and Kashmir pace sensation Umran Malik along with Punjab left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh earn a maiden national call-up for the South Africa series. KL Rahul will lead the Indian team in the five-match T20I series against South Africa. Regular captain Rohit Sharma, and senior batter Virat Kohli rested for South Africa series. Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya, too had made a comeback into the team.
The T20I series will start from June 9.
India’s Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
India’s T20I squad: KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
