Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari replace Kuldeep, Vijay for Southampton and London Test
Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced that batsman Prithvi Shaw and all-rounder Hanuma Vihari have been named in 18-man India's squad for the two-Test remaining in the 5-match series against England.
The selection committee for senior men’s team met in England to select the squad for the remaining two Test to be played in Southampton and London respectively. The committee has decided to drop India’s regular opener Murli Vijay, who has put a dismal show so far in the series.
Vijay scored 26 runs in the first Test while at Lords, he was out for a duck in both the innings. Vijay was dropped in the third Test which India comfortably won by 203 runs. Kuldeep Singh has also been left out of the 18-man squad after playing just one match in the series.
All-rounder Hanuma Vihari has also been called up for the third and fourth Test.
The 18-year old Prithvi Shaw, who plays for Delhi Daredevils in IPL, has captained India to the Under-19 World Cup glory in February and has since been part of India's A teams. Meanwhile, Vihari has a decent average of 59 in 60 odd innings.
India, won the T20 series and lost the ODI series, are trailing 2-1 in the 5-match Test series against England. Virat Kohli has surely shown his metal to overcome the 2014 disaster. Kohli has so far scored 440 runs in the series.
The 18-man squad for remaining Two Tests is as follows-
Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari.