Mohammed Shami is among the notable absentees in the India squad for England, with the selectors naming the lineup on Saturday. The England seamer will miss the series due to fitness concerns, while Harshit Rana and Sarfaraz Khan have been dropped from the squad that toured Australia.
Regarding Shami's exclusion, Chief Selector Agarkar stated: "His workload is not where it needs to be. We were hoping he will be available but it is unfortunate. At the moment he is not fully fit."
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Shami, who has taken 229 wickets in 64 matches, last made a Test appearance in June 2023 against Australia at The Oval. Ever since he's struggled with fitness concerns, including in the five-match series against Australia.
Apart from Shami, Delhi's Harshit Rana is also not part of India’s 18-member squad. He was dropped from the squad along with middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has earned his maiden Test call-up, and Shardul Thakur is also back in the side.
Star seamer Jasprit Bumrah will lead the pace attack and will find support from Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep.
Elsewhere, Shubman Gill has been appointed as India's new Test captain with Rishabh Pant as vice-captain for the five-match series against England which begins on June 20. The selection committee also handed a maiden Test call-up to B Sai Sudharsan and welcomed back Karun Nair after a seven-year hiatus.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the decision to appoint Gill as captain: "Last year or so we have looked at Shubman (for leadership). We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take the team forward). It is a high pressure job but he is a terrific player. We wish him all the best."
Agarkar further elaborated on Gill's appointment: "We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement."
He continued: "We're hopeful he's the guy. He's a terrific player, our best wishes to him. You don't pick captains for one tour or two tours. We've seen some progress over the last year or two with him. No doubt it's going to be as tough as it gets."
India Test squad for England: Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav.
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