The 35-year-old Kohli had already missed the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, and his absence from the remainder of the series marks the only instance in his career when he will not be part of a home series.
Photo: IANS
Putting an end to speculations over former India skipper Virat Kohli’s participation in the remaining three of the ongoing five-match Test series against England, the BCCI on Saturday announced that the seasoned batter will “remain unavailable” for selection due to personal reasons.
The 35-year-old Kohli had already missed the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, and his absence from the remainder of the series marks the only instance in his career when he will not be part of a home series. At the start of the series against England, the Delhi right-hander had trained with the rest of the squad in Hyderabad for a day but decided to withdraw from the first two Tests on the same day.
India bounced back in style with a 106-run win in the second Test to level the series 1-1 after suffering a 28-run loss in the first match. And quite naturally when the five wise men headed by chief selector Ajit Agarkar virtually met on Friday to pick the squad for the next three Tests, they did not want to tinker much with the winning combination.
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Accordingly, the only notable omission from the squad is Shreyas Iyer even as Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul, who missed the second Test in Visakhapatnam due to injuries, have been included in the 17-member roster. But the duo’s availability is subject to fitness clearance from the national cricket board’s medical team. Jadeja had picked a hamstring injury in the first Test, while KL Rahul suffered a quad niggle ahead of the Vizag game.
Bengal seamer Akash Deep is the lone new face in the Test squad, as the selectors retained the other new comers in Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan, along with young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel in the squad.
Iyer’s omission from the squad comes after a string of below-par scores in both the first two Tests. Considered as one of the best batters against spin bowling, Iyer was the only senior India batter apart from skipper Rohit Sharma to not register a significant score. The Mumbai right-hander, who experienced back spasms a day or two after the second Test, but was later cleared for selection, returned with scores of 35 and 13 in Hyderabad, and 27 and 29 in Visakhapatnam.
Siraj back after a break
Pacer Mohammed Siraj, who was rested from the second Test for workload reasons, was recalled to bolster the pace attack, headed by Jasprit Bumrah. Mukesh Kumar, who had a forgettable outing in the second Test was retained in the squad that has a new face in Deep.
Deep finished as the leading wicket-taker for India A with 11 scalps in the recent three-match red-ball series against England Lions. Earlier, he was part of India’s Asian Games gold medal-winning squad, and was also included in the KL Rahul-led side for the ODI series in South Africa.
The selectors also reposed their faith on wicketkeeper KS Bharat, despite his not-so impressive outing with the bat in the first two games. Bharat, who grabbed six catches in the two Tests, took India closer than they might have expected to in the chase in Hyderabad after the top order struggled to deal with Tom Hartley’s left-arm spin but on a flatter track in Vizag, he could only manage scores of 17 and 6, begging questions on his selection.
Head coach Rahul Dravid had conceded that Bharat’s batting needed some improvement but at the same time backed his wicket keeping skills.
“Young players need time to develop and they’re growing at their own pace. Of course, as a coach, you really want players who come in to be able to grab the opportunities they get and be able to perform. His keeping, to be honest, in the Test matches has been really good. I think he’ll also feel that, with his batting, I think he’ll agree that he certainly could have done better,” Dravid had said.
The third Test starts February 15 in Rajkot, before the teams move to Ranchi for the fourth game from February 23. The fifth and final Test will be played in Dharamsala from March 7.
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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