Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are back in India’s squad for the first two Tests against England at home. Mohammed Shami has not been included but Vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan constitute the seam attack while R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja make up the spin attack along with Kuldeep and Axar. Shami has not played since the ODI World Cup final in November last year and might be rested as a precautionary move. Dhruv Jurel has earned his maiden call-up to the India side as the backup keeper to KL Rahul. Ishan Kishan, who took a break from the two-match Test series in South Africa and the ongoing T20I series at home, was also not included in the squad. Avesh Khan, who was recently called up to the India Test squad in South Africa, retained his spot. Ishan Krishna, who made his Test debut in Centurion was not named in the squad. Jurel had recently scored a half-century for India A in a four-day first-class fixture against South Africa A in Benoni and is currently playing against Lions in Ahmedabad. In all, he has played 15 first-class games and averages nearly 47. The India squad for the first two Tests against England includes Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Avesh Khan.
