The Indian Team for the remaining three Test matches against England has been announced. Virat Kohli will not play in the series due to personal reasons. Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been included subject to fitness clearance by the BCCI medical team.
Shreyas Iyer had a disappointing outing in the first two test matches at Hyderabad and Vizag. He was cleared for selection after complaining of back spasm in the 2nd test at Vizag but was left out in the remaining three test matches due to poor form, as per the reports.
Iyer made 35 and 13 in the first Test match at Hyderabad where the Indian team lost by 28 runs. He struggled during 2nd test at Vizag with scores of 27 and 29 but was not able to convert into big scores. Shreyas got out to Hartley in both innings. His only major contribution was a superb catch by Zak Crawley in the first innings and then a stunning run out to dismiss Stokes in the 2nd innings to tilt the match in Favor of India.
The series is equal at 1-1 with India producing a dominating 106-run victory in the 2nd test match at Vizag. Jasprit Bumrah was the player of the match award for his 9 wickets including 6 wickets in the first innings that broke the backbone of England’s batting.
Shreyas Iyer has been struggling for form in test matches. He could not perform well in the 2 test matches against South Africa on South African soil. Apart from an impressive 31 in the first innings of the first Test match at Centurion, he struggled to face top-quality South African bowling.
Rajat Patidar has retained his place with an impressive 32 in the first innings. He was dismissed cheaply in the 2nd innings for just 9. Sarfaraz Khan has been included in the squad if KL Rahul does not recover in time.
Series interestingly poised
The five-match Test series between India and England is poised at 1-1. England won the first match by 28 runs after a stunning 196 runs by Ollie Pope in the second innings along with contributions by Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, and Tom Hartley.
India made a strong comeback in the 2nd test at Vizag. Thanks to Jaiswal’s 209, India made 396 runs in the first innings. Bumrah showed great bowling effort skittling them out for 253. Shubman Gill made 104 runs in the 2nd innings setting 399 runs in 2nd innings.
The third Test match will be played at Rajkot from 15th February, followed by the fourth test at Ranchi from 23rd February and the final Test to be played from 7th March onwards at Dharmshala.
India squad For the last 3 test matches against England:
Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep
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