The senior selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar announced the India squad for the England Test series on Friday. Rohit Sharma has been named the team's captain, while Jasprit Bumrah got vice-captaincy. Three wicket-keepers were named in the squad, but Ishan Kishan failed to get a place in India's squad for England Tests. KL Rahul, KS Bharat and Dhruv Juel are the three wicket-keepers in the squad for the first two Tests. Starting January 25, the first Test will be played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Why did Ishan Kishan fail to find a place in India's squad for the England Tests in 2024?
Reports have emerged that Ishan Kishan lost the trust of Indian team management after he left the squad in South Africa before the Test series. Later, it was reported that Kishan had been going through mental fatigue.
Ahead of the India vs Afghanistan Test series, head coach Rahul Dravid termed the disciplinary action reports fake news and said Ishan Kishan had not made himself available for the selection.
He added that Kishan should play Ranji and score runs to return to the India national cricket team.
ALSO READ: Future opener to mental fatigue: Curious case of Kishan's place in India Shami was also not a part of the India squad that toured South Africa in December-January.
Dhruv gets maiden call-up The inclusion of Uttar Pradesh player Jurel headlined the selection.
The 22-year-old was a part of India A squad that played two matches against their South African counterparts in December last year.
He had made a 69 in the second match at Benoni and more recently made a 63 for UP against Kerala in a first round group game of the Ranji Trophy at Alappuzha.
Jurel, who had made his First-Class debut last year against Vidarbha, has so far made 790 runs from 15 matches at an average of 46 with a hundred and five fifties in the domestic circuit.
KL and KS - the other two keepers
However, KS Bharat could be the first-choice wicketkeeper batter and the selectors have also named KL Rahul for the role.
Rahul had donned the big gloves in the two Test matches against South Africa with a fair amount of success.
But it is unlikely that the Bengaluru-man could continue in the role against England as India are certain to field three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar, a move that warrants a specialist behind the stumps.
the second match will be held at Visakhapatnam from February 2.
India squad for first Two Tests vs 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.
England squad for Tests vs India
Ben Stokes (Durham – captain),Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Tom Hartley (Lancashire), Jack Leach (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
| England’s Tour of India, 2023-24 – Test series |
| Sr. No. | Date | Match | Time (IST) | Venue |
| 1 | 25th – 29th January | 1st Test | | Hyderabad |
| 2 | 2nd – 6th February | 2nd Test | | Vizag |
| 3 | 15th – 19th February | 3rd Test | | Rajkot |
| 4 | 23rd – 27th February | 4th Test | | Ranchi |
| 5 | 7th – 11th March | 5th Test | | Dharamsala |
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