England vs India 2018: 3 deserving Indians who are unlucky to miss out on the last 2 Tests
While the Indian team was still celebrating its triumph, the selectors announced the squad for the last two Tests. 15 from the initial squad were retained. Domestic heavyweights Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw displaced opener Murali Vijay and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Jadeja, Shardul and Karun Nair, who didn’t get an opportunity so far, hold on to their spots.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t feature in the squad as he is yet to recover from his back problem.
Though each and every selected player richly deserved to be in the squad, there were a few others who couldn’t make the cut, despite giving uncompromising performances time and again. Let’s have a look at them.
Squad for the last two Tests: Virat Kohli (C), Dhawan, Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Hardik Pandya, Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karun Nair, Bumrah.
#3 Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj’s rise as a cricketer is nothing short of phenomenal. Hailing from a humble background, the autorickshaw’s son first bowled with a cricket ball only in 2015. In his second season for Hyderabad, he was their highest wicket-taker with 41 scalps to his name.
He didn’t stop there and went on to don the Indian jersey in a T20 encounter against New Zealand. Though he couldn't make any noise in the 3 T20s he has played so far, he has always been under the selectors’ radar.
He toured England recently, representing India A, and the inswinging bowler returned with 15 wickets in his kitty. His adroitness with the ball was manifested even more when he bundled 14 South Africa A wickets on a batting-friendly wicket in Bengaluru.
Considering his recent feats it makes you wonder if the in-form Hyderabadi should have replaced Shardul Thakur in the squad.