India squad vs England: Virat Kohli unavailable for rest of the series; Jadeja, KL Rahul subject to fitness

The India squad for the remaining three Tests against England was announced by the BCCI on Saturday, with senior batter Virat Kohli remaining absent whereas KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja have been included subject to fitness.

Kohli had missed the first two Tests against England due to personal reasons. His absence from the field is set to continue for the remainder of the series which resumes on 15 February with the third Test in Rajkot. The fourth and fifth Test will be played in Ranchi and Dharamsala from 23 February and 7 March respectively.

“Virat Kohli will remain unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series due to personal reasons. The Board fully respects and supports Mr. Kohli’s decision,” BCCI said in an official statement.

On Kohli’s availability, Team India coach Rahul Dravid had said that it was upto the selectors to take the call but the team management would contact him. “I think it’s best to ask the selectors. I am sure they are the best people to answer ahead of the team selection for the next three Tests. We will get to that. I am sure there will be selection over the next few days. We will connect with him and find out,” Dravid had told reporters following the second Test.

KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, who were nursing injuries and thus missed the second Test, returned to the squad for the remaining three Tests. Rahul had been ruled out of the Visakhapatnam Test due to a quadriceps injury whereas Jadeja had hurt his hamstring during the first Test in Hyderabad.

Shreyas Iyer has been dropped after a string of low scores. The middle-order batter had been out of runs going back to December 2022 when he scored his last half-century. Since then he has averaged under 20 runs. In the on-going Test series vs England he has produced scored of 35, 13, 27 and 29 runs for an average of 26 runs.

Contrary to reports, Jasprit Bumrah, who on Wednesday became the No 1 bowler in Tests, has not been rested. Reports suggested he was going to be rested keeping the seamer’s workload in mind. Bumrah had picked nine wickets in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, including six in the first innings.

Additionally, India have given maiden call-up to Akash Deep who replaces uncapped allrounder Saurabh Kumar who was brought into the squad for the second Test. Sarfaraz Khan, who was also included in the squad, has kept his place even though he didn’t appear in Visakhapatnam.

The five-match Test series is locked at 1-1 after England won the opener by 28 runs in Hyderabad before India clinched a 106-run win in Visakhapatnam.

India Squad for remaining three Tests vs England: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), 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, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep