Kohli, Pandya, Ishant Sharma return as BCCI name squad for first 2 Tests versus England

[Firebat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">TEAM - Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya (VC), KL Rahul, Hardik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur</p>— BCCI (@BCCI) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1351530333334716418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Indian skipper Virat Kohli returned to the national side as the BCCI announced the Test squad to take on England in the first two matches of the upcoming four-match series on Tuesday. All-rounder Hardik Pandya and senior fast bower Ishant Sharma, who were not part of the just-concluded Test series in Australia, have made a comeback to the side. Ishant missed the series Down Under due to an injury he suffered during the IPL 2020, while Hardik was omitted as he hadn't resumed bowling after undergoing a back surgery.

Leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the fourth Test against Australia due to injuries, have also been named in the squad.

Given the spin-friendly nature of Indian pitch, the selectors have opted for an extra spinner in Axar Patel, along side the likes of Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar.

Mohammed Siraj, who finished as India's leading wicket-taker in Australia series with 13 wickets, has found a place, while Shardul Thakur, who had an impressive overseas debut, has also been inlcuded in the side.

In addition, the selectors have also named four reserve players KS Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar, who will be included in the squad in case of injuries.

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who were both ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the middle of the series, will miss the first two Tests slated to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The first Test will begin on February 5, while the second match of the four-match series will start on February 13.

The last two matches of the series will be played at the largest cricket stadium in the world -- Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.

India's squad for first two Tests against England: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness), Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/vir...d-for-first-two-tests-against-england-2354875

 

[AMSS]

Umesh is going to be a big miss. He's lethal in India. No word on Shami's availability either.

Excited to see how Bumrah goes on home soil.

Not happy with Sundar and Shardul in the team. In India, the goal ought to be to pick the sharpest spinners, not look for someone with talent with the bat. Would have preferred Rahul Chahar instead.

The expected team come the first test should look something like this.

Gill
Rohit
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Ashwin
Axar
Siraj
Ishant
Bumrah

 

[JattMaula]

Umesh is going to be a big miss. He's lethal in India. No word on Shami's availability either.

Excited to see how Bumrah goes on home soil.

Not happy with Sundar and Shardul in the team. In India, the goal ought to be to pick the sharpest spinners, not look for someone with talent with the bat. Would have preferred Rahul Chahar instead.

The expected team come the first test should look something like this.

Gill
Rohit
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Ashwin
Axar
Siraj
Ishant
Bumrah

One bowler too many. Tests are in chennai. Don't need ,3 genuine pacers. Play pandya for Siraj. And if kuldeep is good frame of mind then he plays ahead of axar.

 

[Babbar]

Interesting to see the names of standbyes and net bowlers for the series. None of them are repeated from the Aus series, not even Natu . Nice way to groom next gen players. I doubt if even Indian PPers would have heard names of many.

Standbyes: KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal

Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

This is a good list of players. Hopefully one or two of them will come up to the international level.

 

[silentkiller187]

Interesting to see the names of standbyes and net bowlers for the series. None of them are repeated from the Aus series, not even Natu . Nice way to groom next gen players. I doubt if even Indian PPers would have heard names of many.

Standbyes: KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal

Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

This is a good list of players. Hopefully one or two of them will come up to the international level.

Think players like natu went from ipl bubble to the aus bubble so have had months on the road, makes sense to give him some time off and others if they ain’t even making the team.

 

[Babbar]

Pandya will be there in the first X1 as long as he’s relatively fit for batting. Kohli will continue to invest into him, expecting him to be back being an alpha all-rounder, esp on future away series. He remains the best all-rounder we have, followed by Jadeja.

 

[Dingolfy]

Umesh is going to be a big miss. He's lethal in India. No word on Shami's availability either.

Excited to see how Bumrah goes on home soil.

Not happy with Sundar and Shardul in the team. In India, the goal ought to be to pick the sharpest spinners, not look for someone with talent with the bat. Would have preferred Rahul Chahar instead.

The expected team come the first test should look something like this.

Gill
Rohit
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Ashwin
Axar
Siraj
Ishant
Bumrah

I think Sundar has enough variations to succeed against English batsmen in India.

 

[Dingolfy]

Pandya will be there in the first X1 as long as he’s relatively fit for batting. Kohli will continue to invest into him, expecting him to be back being an alpha all-rounder, esp on future away series. He remains the best all-rounder we have, followed by Jadeja.

I feel like they should invest in Shardul for an allrounder in SENA tests. His batting looks much more compact than Hardik in Tests and he is a much better bowler.

 

[Revolution]

Good to see giving importance to nett bowlers..

Why Kartik Tyagi is missing.

 

[guna]

Rohit
Gill
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Hardik/Sundar
Kuldeep/Sundar
Ashwin
Ishant/Siraj
Bumrah

Jadeja will be a huge miss as he adds balance with his batting. He is also a beast on Indian pitches.

 

[shah_1]

Pandya will be there in the first X1 as long as he’s relatively fit for batting. Kohli will continue to invest into him, expecting him to be back being an alpha all-rounder, esp on future away series. He remains the best all-rounder we have, followed by Jadeja.

Where would he play?

Your line up?

 

[ufcfan]

Good to see giving importance to nett bowlers..

Why Kartik Tyagi is missing.

He too was there in the bio bubble for quite sometime,good break anyway

 

[AMSS]

I think Sundar has enough variations to succeed against English batsmen in India.

He may succeed against England, as you say. But he's still a work in progress as a spinner. There are far more potent spinners available right now who have done the hard yards and proved themselves in Domestics. Axar Patel and Rahul Chahar for example.

Merely because Washington got to play the last test in Aus - on account of special circumstances - doesn't mean he gets to leapfrog ahead of superior options.

 

[AMSS]

On the series itself, I am wary of Archer and Anderson in the pink ball test. Combine that unknown with Kohli's subpar leadership, tactical nous, and team selection, this could be an embarrassment brewing for India.

 

[JattMaula]

Interesting to see the names of standbyes and net bowlers for the series. None of them are repeated from the Aus series, not even Natu . Nice way to groom next gen players. I doubt if even Indian PPers would have heard names of many.

Standbyes: KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal

Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

This is a good list of players. Hopefully one or two of them will come up to the international level.

Every single one of them has had outstanding Ranji performance behind them and are quite well known to Indian cricket followers.

 

[pillionrider]

The speed and quiet efficiency with which the BCCI acts is


Quickly named the squad and captain to stomp out any murmurs regarding captaincy gaining intensity.

Wonder if Kohli was furiously typing away at his phone after the India win

 

[JattMaula]

I feel like they should invest in Shardul for an allrounder in SENA tests. His batting looks much more compact than Hardik in Tests and he is a much better bowler.

While Shardul can hold a bat he can't be called an all rounder due to one inning. He will have to earn and keep his place as a bowler.

 

[andy0204]

The speed and quiet efficiency with which the BCCI acts is


Quickly named the squad and captain to stomp out any murmurs regarding captaincy gaining intensity.

Wonder if Kohli was furiously typing away at his phone after the India win

Same happened after WC when his position was in jeopardy,BCCI immediately announced squad for the WI tour.

 

[Saurav]

Jaddu is going to be a big miss,has great record v Eng

Mostly its going to be Ash+Kuldeep

2 pacers+ Pandya(if hes fit to bowl)

 

[Saurav]

He may succeed against England, as you say. But he's still a work in progress as a spinner. There are far more potent spinners available right now who have done the hard yards and proved themselves in Domestics. Axar Patel and Rahul Chahar for example.

Merely because Washington got to play the last test in Aus - on account of special circumstances - doesn't mean he gets to leapfrog ahead of superior options.

Sundar might play as AR and understudy of Ashwin

Axar is decent,hes there too

 

[Saurav]

On the series itself, I am wary of Archer and Anderson in the pink ball test. Combine that unknown with Kohli's subpar leadership, tactical nous, and team selection, this could be an embarrassment brewing for India.

Yep,same thought.

We'll also be under strength,missing Shami,Umesh and Jaddu

 

[Saurav]

Pandya will be there in the first X1 as long as he’s relatively fit for batting. Kohli will continue to invest into him, expecting him to be back being an alpha all-rounder, esp on future away series. He remains the best all-rounder we have, followed by Jadeja.

lol yeah right

He's barely a Test allrounder if hes not gonna bowl decent amount of overs

 

[Napa]

The speed and quiet efficiency with which the BCCI acts is


Quickly named the squad and captain to stomp out any murmurs regarding captaincy gaining intensity.

Wonder if Kohli was furiously typing away at his phone after the India win

Kohli as captain is great in India. However, I would give him one more SENA away tour and if he can't win then he should be replaced by Rahane, Pujara, Rohit or even Ashwin or Jadeja.

 

[MenInG]

India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja is unlikely to get fit in time for the upcoming home Test series against England starting in the first week of February. Jadeja is reportedly out of the four Tests as a complete recovery from a thumb injury picked during the Australia tour will take more than six months.

England start their tour of India from February 5 with Chennai scheduled to host the first two Tests before flying to Ahmedabad for the remaining two contests. India recently announced their 18-man squad for the first two matches which saw the return of captain Virat Kohli among others.

After the Tests, India and England will be involved in a five-match T20I series followed by three ODIs but a call on Jadeja’s availability for the shorter formats will be taken later.

Jadeja dislocated his thumb while batting during the Sydney Test for which he subsequently underwent a surgery. He didn’t play the fourth Test and was also not included in the squad for first two Tests against England.

“He (Jadeja) is out of Test series and he will take more than six weeks to recover completely. The selectors will take a call later, whether to include him in the team for the shorter formats,” The Indian Express quoted a BCCI source as saying.

Kohli will lead the squad with the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma making their returns after not being part of the Australia Tests while Axar Patel has also been called up.

The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship currently led by India.

India squad for first two Tests: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news...n-white-ball-matches-to-be-taken-later-967291

 

[wrongun]

Looking forward to the pink ball Test. Two good attacks & going to be interesting to see how quicks go with a pink ball in SC or if it helps spinners to the same degree as well.

Do SG make the pink ball with a black seam?

 

[Mesozoic]

My lineup for first two Tests in Chennai..

Gill
Rohit
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Sundar
Ashwin
Kuldeep
Ishant
Bumrah

Only concern is that all these spinners turn the ball into the right handers. So I guess I won't be too unhappy if Axar plays in place of Washy as a like to like replacement for Jadeja.

 

[style_guru]

Wondering how things will unfold for Colly, if India lose this series (which is very much likely).

Battle lines have been drawn within, is what I heard.

 

[AMSS]

When would India be able to field their first choice pace attack in home conditions? Umesh, Bumrah and Shami.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Looking forward to the pink ball Test. Two good attacks & going to be interesting to see how quicks go with a pink ball in SC or if it helps spinners to the same degree as well.

Do SG make the pink ball with a black seam?

The SG pink does quite a bit. I'm scared of the pink ball test to be honest . The likes of Woakes and Anderson will get it to hoop around.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Wondering how things will unfold for Colly, if India lose this series (which is very much likely).

We will thrash England.
Beating of a lifetime.

 

[Saurav]

My lineup for first two Tests in Chennai..

Gill
Rohit
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Sundar
Ashwin
Kuldeep
Ishant
Bumrah

Only concern is that all these spinners turn the ball into the right handers. So I guess I won't be too unhappy if Axar plays in place of Washy as a like to like replacement for Jadeja.

Axar should play ahead of Kuldeep

Both him and Washi would be able to fill the gap left by Jaddu

Only concern is just 2 pacers.Kohli might go with 3

 

[Saurav]

We will thrash England.
Beating of a lifetime.

No confidence in this under strength under Kohli

He should tend to his baby for one more series

 

[JaDed]

I don’t have a good feeling about this series esp due to England’s form in Lanka.

I really hope Ash comes good, would had been much more confident with Jaddu in the line.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

No confidence in this under strength under Kohli

He should tend to his baby for one more series

No problem, after this series you will regain confidence in this team.

 

[rhony]

Wonder if they will play Saha or Pant in Eng tests. Pant's keeping is not up to par in sub continent against spinners and his batting might not be needed.

 

[rhony]

The last time Eng were in Ind, even Jayant Yadav scored a hundred. This will be a walk in the park for Ind. See Gill go to newer heights with multiple hundreds, Kohli taking out his frustration for missing the aussie series on english bowlers. Don't forget Rohit making merry to keep his place in the team. It will be an achievement if Eng win one test.

 

[wrongun]

Wonder if they will play Saha or Pant in Eng tests. Pant's keeping is not up to par in sub continent against spinners and his batting might not be needed.

You don't drop Pant after a series like that. He's earned the right to keep his spot & work hard to improve his keeping.

 

[rhony]

Wonder if Kohli thinks the same way. Top order is more comfortable in Indian conditions and it's very difficult to keep in subcontinent against spinners. Let's see

 

[BreadPakoda]

Should drop Pandya if he’s not going to bowl.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

In the pink tests, the major loss is shami - he could be a nasty customer. Hope Ishant, Jazzboom and HP swing it and Ash and kullu deliver. I would be wary of Anderson, woakes, wood and broad for the pink ball test under lights -this would be their best chance to win as the pink ball will swing around and throw in the dew factor. It will be a good series.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

I worry about pink test. Could be another beizzati as our star batsmen cannot handle swing.

 

[Firebat]

Fancy this Indian squad heavily vs England. Only Root, Stokes and Bairstow can play spin a least a little convincingly, and one of those was dropped.

Ashwin, Kuldeep, Axar will run rings around these English batsmen

 

[BigShak]

Moeen dropped two tons last time out in India but not sure how his form is now. If the openers continue to flop he might end up playing at some point.

 

[MP2011]

You don't drop Pant after a series like that. He's earned the right to keep his spot & work hard to improve his keeping.

Some guys are really clueless, aren't they?

 

[MP2011]

Should drop Pandya if he’s not going to bowl.

Yeah, won't need his batting in India at least.

 

[MP2011]

Axar should play ahead of Kuldeep

Has Kuldeep fallen so far down the pecking order?

 

[Saurav]

Has Kuldeep fallen so far down the pecking order?

More about having one turning the ball away from RHB in absence of Jaddu

Kuldeep,Ash and Sundar all bring the ball in

Axar also has a decent FC record and can bat

 

[Buffet]

Eng will fancy their chances in the PInk ball test.