Virat Kohli has made himself unavailable for the remainder of the Test series against England, citing personal reasons. Kohli had also missed the first two Tests due to the same reason. Apart from Kohli, Shreyas Iyer will also take no part in the remaining Tests in Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala, respectively. Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja returned to the team, but their participation will depend on the BCCI’s medical team’s fitness clearance. On Kohli’s decision to remain unavailable for the remaining Tests, the BCCI said that they “respect and support” the former captain’s decision.
“The Men’s Selection Committee announced India’s squad for the final three Tests of the IDFC First Bank series against England,” the BCCI said in a statement.
“Virat Kohli will remain unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series due to personal reasons. The Board fully respects and supports Mr. Kohli’s decision,” the statement added.
“The participation of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team.”
The BCCI, however, did not reveal the reason behind Iyer’s absence from the remaining matches. The batter has managed scores of 35, 13, 27 and 29 in the first two Tests.
Rahul and Jadeja, on the other hand, missed the second Test due to their respective injuries.
India restored parity in the second Test, beating England by 106 runs at Vizag to level the five-match series.
Bengal pacer Akash Deep received his first India Test call-up after being added to the the squad, replacing Avesh Khan, who will continue to feature for Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.
The third Test will commence on February 15, 2024 in Rajkot while the fourth Test kickstarts in Ranchi from February 23, 2024. The fifth and final Test of the series will be played in Dharamsala from March 07, 2024.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul*, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep
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