For the rest of the series, India will be without the services of star batsman Virat Kohli, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.
“Virat Kohli will remain unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series due to personal reasons. The Board fully respects and supports Mr. Kohli’s decision,” BCCI said in a statement.
On Friday, Virat Kohli informed the BCCI selectors about his unavailability for the entire India vs England series.
Virat Kohli will miss a complete test series
For the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Vizag, Kohli had first withdrew from the team, raising hopes that the star batsman would return in time for the remaining three games. Before making a U-turn on February 9, Kohli’s former RCB colleague, AB de Villiers, had initially claimed that the Indian star was expecting his second child with Anushka Sharma.
For the first time since his debut, Kohli will not participate in a single Test match during a home series. This is obviously a major setback for the Indian batting team, which has so far in this series relied mostly on individual heroics and is finding it difficult to get massive totals.
However, Kohli’s absence made sense until it was discovered that the 35-year-old had not yet arrived back in the nation.
On the other side, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul were both included in the Indian playing XI for the first Test match in Hyderabad but were unable to play in the second match in Vizag due to injuries. The availability of the pair is “subject to fitness.”
Jadeja had suffered from a hamstring injury while Rahul was feeling pain on his right quadriceps.
Back spasms and a groin strain have kept Shreyas Iyer out of the final three Test matches in Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala. This implies that Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in Visakhapatnam, would both likely continue to play a key role in the team.
🚨 NEWS 🚨#TeamIndia's Squad for final three Tests against England announced.
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 10, 2024
Details 🔽 #INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBankhttps://t.co/JPXnyD4WBK
Akash Deep, a Bengali pacer, has merited his first call-up. The 27-year-old has received recognition for his outstanding work with India A. In his two games against the England Lions, he claimed 11 wickets. The roster included Mohammed Siraj, who was rested for the second Test.
The third Test will start from February 15 in Rajkot, while the fourth Test kickstarts in Ranchi from February 23 and fifth and final Test of the series will be played in Dharamsala from March 7.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep