On Wednesday night (August 22), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the full-member Indian squad for the final two Tests of the ongoing five-match Test series against the hosts England. Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari have earned their first international call-up as they have been added in the squad.
BCCI has announced the new 18-member Indian cricket team squad for the fourth and fifth Test of the ongoing Test series in the English soil. The board has made two important changes in the 18-member squad from the first three Tests of the series. Opener Murali Vijay and left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav have been dropped from the squad while Shaw and Vihari have replaced them.
Currently, England is leading the Test series by 2-1 after the third Test match that ended on Wednesday (August 22). England won a thrilling game by 31 runs in the first Test at Edgbaston (Birmingham) and they also clinched another victory in the second Test at Lord’s (London) by an innings & 159 runs. India impressively made a bounce back in the Test series after winning the third Test at Trent Bridge (Nottingham) by 203 runs.
The last two Tests will be played – at Rose Bowl (Southampton) starting from August 30 and at The Oval (London) starting from September 7.
Shaw and Vihari both are currently in the great form with the bat. Both had toured in England for India A in last June to play the List A and first-class matches. In that England tour, Shaw was the most run-scorer for India A while Vihari was the third most run-scorer for India A. In that tour, Shaw scored a total of 603 runs (10 innings) with 60.30 averages including three centuries and two half-centuries while Vihari scored a total of 410 runs (8 innings) with 51.25 averages including one century and two half-centuries. Both had impressed in the first-class and List A matches of that tour.
Recently, in the unofficial two-match home Test series against South Africa A, both represented for India A and continued their batting forms as both hit one century each in that series.
Full 18-member Indian squad for the final two Tests in England tour: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari
Indian team for 4th and 5th Test against England announced.
Virat Kohli (C), Dhawan, Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ashwin, Jadeja, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hanuma Vihari pic.twitter.com/bICu1ef9Co
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 22, 2018
