India announce squad for final two Tests against England
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced the squad for the final two Tests of the five-match series against England.
India lost the first two Tests (the second one by a big margin) but bounced back in style to thrash England by 203 runs in the third Test held at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
The entire team performed exceptionally well to achieve their first victory of the tour.
However, there were a few chinks in the armour in the playing XI in the first two Tests. One of the biggest disappointments was Murali Vijay, who failed to get going. He managed to score only 26 runs in four innings at an average of 6.50.
Hence, he has been dropped and in his place, the team management decided to go with the youngster Prithvi Shaw. Shaw has been in great form in the domestic circuit and has been playing for India A as well. As we all know, he led the Indian Under-19 team to World Cup success last year. He played well in the IPL this year as well for the Delhi Daredevils.
Apart from Shaw, the 24-year-old Hanuma Vihari was also included in the squad in place of Kuldeep Yadav.
Vihari, too, has been in great form off late. He was the leading run-scorer for his state in the Ranji Trophy last year.
The fourth Test between the two sides will take place from August 30 onwards at the Rose Bowl in Southampton before the final Test at The Oval in London from September 7 to September 11.
Squad: Virat Kohli (C), Dhawan, Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ashwin, Jadeja, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hanuma Vihari