Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 17, 2021, 05:03 PM
Cricket Desk: The All-India Senior Selection Committee met on Wednesday and picked the Indian cricket team squad for the third and fourth Test against England. The third Test - pink-ball Test - will take place at the new Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad from February 24. Umesh Yadav will be joining the team in Ahmedabad and after his fitness assessment, he will replace Shardul Thakur, who will be released for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The other players released for Vijay Hazare Trophy are Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem and Priyank Panchal.Team India squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj.The Committee also picked five net bowlers, namely, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar. The two players as standbys will be KS Bharat, Rahul Chahar.The pink-ball Test will be the first international match at the rebuilt Motera stadium, which is the largest in the world with a capacity of 1,10,000 spectators capacity. India and England will play the 3rd and 4th Test at the same venue for which 50 per cent crowd will be allowed. The English side too had announced their squad for the third Test. Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood have been added while all-rounder Moeen Ali will return back to England for a break.England squad for Third Test: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.The stadium had earlier hosted the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockout matches. England are 1-0 up against India in the 4 Tests they play. This series is part of the World Test Championship.The two sides will also play 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs. After the completion of the T20I series, the action for ODIs will shift to Pune.