New Delhi: Opener Murali Vijay and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav were axed from the Indian cricket squad for the remaining two Test matches against England, while youngsters Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari received their maiden call-ups.
Following his wretched form, which saw him being dismissed for a pair in the Lord’s Test, Vijay was left out of the playing XI at the Nottingham Test, with his woes in England culminating in him being replaced by 18-year-old Shaw.
Favourable conditions for seam bowlers, coupled with Ravichandran Ashwin’s scheduled recovery in time for the fourth Test match account for Yadav’s omission from the team for the final two games. However, he has been included in the squad for India A’s encounter with Australia A in two four-day matches.
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Apart from captaining the Under-19 team to World Cup glory in February, Shaw has also been a consistent performer in the domestic arena.
Meanwhile, Vihari, the 24-year-old middle-order batsman from Andhra Pradesh, boasts an average of 59.79 from 63 first-class matches, which helped him in getting selected for India’s remaining matches.
While England currently lead the series 2-1, the fourth Test will be played at Southampton on August 30.
The 18-man squad for the remaining two matches is as follows: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, K. L. Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (Wicketkeeper), Hanuma Vihari.
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(With ANI inputs)