The BCCI named an 18-member Test squad for the five-match series against England starting from June 20. Shubman Gill was named the new Test skipper while Rishabh Pant was named his deputy.
After suffering losses to New Zealand at home and Australia down under, Team India will be making a comeback to playing Test cricket after almost three months.
The BCCI has named a relatively young Test squad with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin not available for selection anymore. Ashwin announced his Test retirement in the Australia series while Rohit and Kohli earlier this month.
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When Did India Play With Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin Last In Test Cricket
The Indian team will have to bear without these three in Test cricket from hereon. Meanwhile. The BCCI selector Ajit Agarkar through a press conference announced Shubman Gill as India's new Test skipper. He seemed confident of Gill's ability to lead the team in this format with India kicking off their WTC 2025-27 campaign with the Test series against England.
This will be the very first time since 2011 that, India will be playing a Test match or a Test series without any of these three being in the squad. The last time India played without the likes of Kohli and Ashwin in a Test series was back in 2011 in the Test series against England.
Back then none of the two were a sureshot selection in the Test side. Kohli was dropped after his maiden Test series against West Indies. He was added to the squad for the England series as Yuvraj Singh's replacement but did not get a game in the series.
Talking about Ravichandran Ashwin, he was not a part of the initial squad that was announced. The team went ahead with Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra as the two specialist spinners in the England tour. With Harbajan getting injured, Pragyan Ojha was called in as his replacement ahead of Ashwin.
As far as Rohit Sharma is concerned, he made his Test debut in 2013 and was not a regular member of the Test side till 2019 when he was promoted as an opener in the first WTC edition. In the next five to six years, Rohit became a constant in the Test side and ended his career by playing 67 Test matches and scoring over 4000 runs in the format.
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Mohammed Shami - Absent From This Test Side
Experienced pacer Mohammed Shami has been snubbed from this Test side that will be travelling to England. He has been a bit rusty off late and has also had injury concerns. He did not have a good IPL season but despite that, he is eager to make a comeback into the Test side.
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