22-year-old earns maiden call up as India announce squad for first two IND vs ENG Tests

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday (January 12) announced the India squad that will take on The Three Lions in the first two Test matches of the five-match series at home, starting on January 25. Jasprit Bumrah will be Rohit's deputy in the squad which otherwise had no major surprises.

In an interesting addition, a 22-year-old youngster has been incorporated into the squad, giving him a maiden call-up. Dhruv Jurel has been named as a backup wicketkeeper in the absence of Ishan Kishan. Jurel's call up comes after an impressive show in domestic cricket and for India A.

Jurel has already amassed 790 first-class runs at an average of 46.47, including a century and five fifties. He also played a gritty knock of 69 against South Africa A in Benoni last month. Apart from that, Jurel impressed in his role as a lower-order batter for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023, but this call up has been solely for the success he has had in red-ball cricket of late.

Another new name in the red-ball format for India will be Avesh Khan, who has replaced Prasidh Krishna in the squad from the tour of the Rainbow Nation. 

Axar Patel and Kuldeep has also returned to the Test squad after missing out on the tour of South Africa. This implies India will have a spin-laden attack with the likes of Jadeja, Ashwin, Axar and Kuldeep in the ranks. 

Shami misses out due to rehabilitation

Shami had missed out on the last assignment due to injury and is seemingly continuing his recovery while Shardul Thakur has also dropped out after the series against the Proteas. 

The Rohit Sharma-led side registered its first-ever Test win in Cape Town on January 4, which helped them top the World Test Championship (WTC) standings, They will play the first Test on January 25 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The second Test is slated to start from February 2 in Visakhapatnam. 

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India squad for first two England Tests: 

Rohit Sharma (C ), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, S Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.

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