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No Fear No Favour

Captain Virat, Ishant, and Hardik Pandya returns to the Indian squad for the first two Tests against England

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

After a historic test series victory at the Gabba against Australia, Team India have announced their squads for the first two Tests against England.

The Test series which is set to begin from February 5, will witness the return of skipper Virat Kohli who had his parental leave after the first test against Australia.

The selector’s panel led by former Indian player Chetan Sharma also brought back veteran speedster Ishant Sharma, who had been ruled out of the Australian tour with an injury, and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will also don the whites after a long time.

However, Tamil Nadu paceman T Natarajan and Prithvi Shaw have been dropped from the team as the selection panel added Axar Patel a left-arm spinner to the squad to Counter England on Indian pitches.

Ajinkya Rahane who led India in the historic Test series victory in Australia after Kohli’s departure was named as the vice-captain.

The selection panel retained young guns Shubhman Gill, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammad Siraj, rewarding for their excellent performance in Australia.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the Brisbane Test due to a back injury has also been named in the lineup as he is expected to recover by the time England land in India.

For unversed India will play four-match Test Series, Five matches T20 Series and three-match ODI series from February 5 to Match 28.

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