Indian Test squad to face Afghanistan announced, Ajinkya Rahane to lead side

Ajinkya Rahane has been named the captain for the Indian Test side even as regulars like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested from the side.

Kohli will play his trade for county side Surrey. Afghanistan will play their inaugural Test, against India, from June 14 to 18 in Bengaluru. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma, who are also playing in the county circuit will be back to take part in the Test match.

It will also be the first Test which will be played in June in India which is perhaps the hottest month in the country.

Afghanistan became the Full Members along with Ireland when they were granted Test status back in June 2017. They will be the fourth team to play their maiden Test against the Indians.

Rahane captained Indian in the fourth match of the Australia series in Dharamsala as Virat Kohli was out injured. He is currently captaining the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Shardul Thakur has replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the squad from the South African series while Karun Nair has made a comeback after his record-breaking triple hundred against England.

The selectors have also added an extra spinner in Kuldeep Yadav to the squad considering the changed nature of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium's surface.

Test Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur