On Friday, January 5, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made the announcement of the Indian National Cricket Team’s Test squad for the two Tests of the upcoming five-match series against the England National Cricket Team. .
England’s tour of India 2024 consists of a five-match Test series. The high-profile series will be played over three months (January, February and March) in India.
The first Test match will be played from January 25 to 29 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad and the second Test will be held from February 2 to 6 at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam .
The teams will then travel to Rajkot for the third Test, to be played from February 15 to 19 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium before moving to Ranchi for the fourth Test, to be held at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. CEJA International Stadium from February 23 to 27. The fifth and final Test match of the series will begin on March 7 and will be hosted at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
India announces squad for England Test series
The Indian national cricket team’s Test squad will be led by Rohit Sharma and has some familiar faces in Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill.
The team’s spin department will again be headed by veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. In the rhythm department, it will be Jasprit Bumrah, who will act as the leader of the group. He recently won the Player of the Series award in the two-match Test series against South Africa, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Ishan Kishan has not been included and Dhruv Jurel has received his first Test call-up. Notably, Kishan has been out of action since he withdrew his name from the Test series against South Africa in December.
Reports suggested that the BCCI would take disciplinary action against Kishan, but Rahul Dravid later dismissed those reports. The head coach said Kishan will return to the team once he plays domestic cricket and is available for selection. Furthermore, Mohammed Shami has not been included because he has not yet recovered from his injury.
Meanwhile, England have also announced a 16-member squad for a five-Test tour of India. The ECB has picked three uncapped players (Gus Atkinson, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir) in the squad for the Test series. The team will be coached by Ben Stokes and they hope to continue their ‘Bazball’ philosophy in the series.
The last time England were in India in 2021, they were beaten 3-1 in a 4-match series. While the last Test series between the teams ended in a 2-2 draw in 2021-22.
Here is India’s complete squad for the first two Tests against England:
Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, S Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.
? NEWS ? Has #TeamIndia squad been announced for the first two Tests against England?
Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, S Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit…
– BCCI (@BCCI) January 12, 2024