BCCI announces the Test squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the upcoming historic Test match against Afghanistan. The regular skipper Virat Kohli will miss the game following his commitments in the County Championship for Surrey in the same month. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the squad as he did in the final Test match against Australia last year. However, Shardul Thakur has earned a maiden call-up in the longest format of the game after impressive showings in the ODIs and T20Is.

There were reports earlier that around 8 key Indian players were set to miss the Test match even as the BCCI official had quashed it calling the news as rumours. Though the inclusion of Shardul comes as a major surprise for many as his name was not in the discussions ahead of the selection. The spin tweakers in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continue to be part of the team in whites as Kuldeep Yadav has also been included to assist the duo.

Who all are rested?

The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are not included in the squad for the game against Afghanistan which will be played on June 14 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Ishant Sharma has also been part of the team who was earlier deemed as doubtful following a shoulder injury to him while playing in the County Championship.

Karun Nair has also been rewarded after shining in the domestic season against Karnataka and will be itching to restart his international career. He was dropped from the team unfortunately despite scoring a heroic triple century against England. But it seems unlikely to get a chance in this game unless there is an injury to one of the main players. Hardik Pandya has also returned to the setup who was rested for the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka and will be expected to perform to his potential now.

Here’s the squad:

Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur

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