The selectors on Wednesday retained 17 of the 18 members in the India squad for the final two Tests against England while pacer Umesh Yadav’s inclusion would depend on his fitness assessment ahead of the Day/Night game in Ahmedabad.

Shardul Thakur (File Photo)
New Delhi:
Shardul Thakur is the only player who has not been kept as he has been released to compete for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The anticipation was around pacer Mohammed Shami’s fitness and it has been learnt that he is still not 100 per cent ready for the rigours of five-day games.
“Umesh Yadav will join the team in Ahmedabad and after his fitness assessment will replace Shardul Thakur, who will be released for the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah was quoted as saying in a press release. Predictably, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has been dropped from the stand-by list after his uninspiring show in the first Test.
Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran have also been released to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat are the stand-by players.
The five net bowlers, who were in Chennai, will also join the India team. They are Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham and Saurabh Kumar.
SQUAD: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj
STAND-BY LIST: KS Bharat (wk) and Rahul Chahar
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