India v England: 5 Surprise inclusions and exclusions from the Indian squad

Whenever India plays a Test series at home, there are little or no inclusions in the side. More or less, the Indian team always looks to make continuity its first priority as they look to make their home grounds a fortress. Although they have been quite successful in doing the same, it would be rather naïve to think that team selection has nothing to do with this.

However, with a new selection panel come new ideas. In fact, the fact that such inexperienced selectors have been picked, the panel and the board has been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of flak for the same. In spite of all this, all the selectors can do at the moment is do the job the BCCI has entrusted them with.

With a few injuries persisting in the side, the selectors have gone on somewhat of a selection spree. KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar may be injured, but there are quite literally a million cricketers who can make a case for themselves in the Test side. That said, here are five surprising inclusions and exclusions in the Indian squad for the first two Tests against England.

Inclusions:

Jayant Yadav

26-year old Jayant Yadav is an important member of the Haryana side for the Ranji Trophy. Despite not spinning the ball as much as he would like, the pace variation as far as Jayant Yadav is concerned is something that makes him a supremely important part of any side he is a part of. Also, the fact that he does not pick as many wickets he would like, the youngster makes it up in maiden overs.

In the context of the India v England series, Yadav is a surprise inclusion in the fact that he is one of four spinners to be a part of the 15-man squad for the first two Test matches against the Brits. This reduces his chances for playing alongside Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on the side. Moreover, the presence of Amit Mishra also adds a demarcation for the 26-year old.

Although it is highly likely that Yadav would be resigned to the bench, it is clear that Yadav is one who has been selected on merit. He impressed one and all with some impressive bowling in the final ODI and also can bat, something that not many specialist spinners boast of. He also has a double-century in domestic cricket, evidence of the fact that he can indeed wield the bat.