India’s rescheduled Test in England: Cheteswhar Pujara recalled in Rohit Sharma-led 17-member squad

Cheteshwar Pujara returns to the scheme of things as the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the Rohit Sharma-led squad for the rescheduled Test match in England.

Pujara had recently been left out for India’s home Test series against Sri Lanka but has been piling on the runs for Sussex in County Cricket.

The selection committee named India’s 17-member Test squad for the fifth rescheduled Test against England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 1-5.

The cancelled fifth Test between India and England men’s cricket teams had been rescheduled, to be held from July 1 at Edgbaston, the England and Wales Cricket Board had announced late last year. The match, which was due to take place at Old Trafford in Manchester, was called off due to fears of a further increase in the number of Covid-19 cases inside the visiting Indian camp.

Since then, Rohit Sharma has taken over as India’s Test captain and he will be assisted by his opening partner KL Rahul.

India’s Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna

From India’s squad in the home series against Sri Lanka, Shreyas Iyer retains his place after impressing in the middle order. KS Bharat has been named as the second wicket-keeper with Wriddhiman Saha no longer in the scheme of things for Test cricket, as had been suggested after the South Africa series.

During the tour last summer, Prasidh Krishna was added to India’s squad for the fourth Test. He was on the standby list has been training and travelling with Team India from the start of the tour. He features again this time around.

Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma are among the notable names that were part of the Test squad last summer in England but not named this time around. Rahane (who is reportedly out for a few weeks due to an injury suffered in the IPL) has fallen out of favour since the home series in New Zealand, while Ishant Sharma too hasn’t played since the Test in Kanpur.