BCCI has announced the Indian squad for the last two Test matches of the series against England. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have been ruled out of the series as they have not yet recovered from the injuries sustained in Australia and this match will played at world largest stadium, Motera Ahmadabad
Joe Root was rapped in front in the penultimate over of Day Three by Axar Patel and India initially appealed for caught behind. After a long discussion, India went for the review. Former England cricketer and coach David Lloyd, should ‘certainly’ not be playing in the third Test against England, starting in Motera on February 24.
Regular captain Virat Kohli will be the captain of Team India in the remaining two Tests. Ajinkya Rahane will be the vice-captain of the team. The first two Tests of this four-match series were played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, in which the first Test was won by England and the second Test by India.
Spin all-rounder Akshar Patel, who made his debut in the second Test, also got a place in Team India for the last two Tests. Patel took two wickets in the first innings of his first match and five wickets in the second innings. At the same time, R Ashwin, who is running in superb form, will lead the spin department. Along with this, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar have also been included in the team.
India squad for the final two Tests against England: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj.
The selection committee, which met on Wednesday also picked five net bowlers and two players as standbys.
Net Bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar
Standby players: KS Bharat, Rahul Chahar.
“No word of any disciplinary action against Virat Kohli then? I chuckle and I despair. Cricket is so archaic. The captain of a national team is allowed to criticise, berate, intimidate and ridicule an official on the pitch,” Lloyd wrote in his column on Daily Mail.
“And he was allowed to carry on playing on in the second Test! In any other sport, he would have been sent off the field. Kohli certainly shouldn’t be playing in Ahmedabad next week.
“All it would take to show the public the severity of any offence is the introduction of yellow and red cards. This was a straight red — which would mean he misses the next three Tests. The lack of any action from match referee Javagal Srinath sitting there in his nice air-conditioned room beggars belief. Three and a half days and he has said nothing,” Lloyd added.
Lloyd also felt that the Chepauk pitch made the second Test a ‘non-event’. “This Test, to me, was a non-event. And to be brutally honest I've had no real interest in it since the first morning when the pitch exploded. I knew all I needed to know then. The result was inevitable, it was just a matter of time,” Lloyd wrote, sport published by - The Beyond News