Dhruv Jurel new face in India squad for first two Tests against Eng; Shami continues to be absent
New Delhi, Jan 12: The selectors on Friday stuck to the tried and tested names while announcing the India team for the first two Tests against England with wicketkeeper batsman Dhruv Jurel being the lone new face.
Rohit Sharma will lead the 16-man side while Jasprit Bumrah will be his deputy.
Senior pacer Mohammed Shami was not named in the squad as he is continuing his recovery process from an injury that he suffered during the ODI World Cup last year.
Shami was also not a part of the India squad that toured South Africa recently.
Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna was also not considered as he also picked up a left quadricep injury during the Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat on this day.
Pace bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur also missed out but left-arm spinner Axar Patel made an expected comeback to the side.
However, the inclusion of Uttar Pradesh player Jurel headlined the selection.
The 22-year-old was a part of India A squad that played two matches against their South African counterparts in December last year.
He had made a 69 in the second match at Benoni and more recently made a 63 for UP against Kerala in a first round group game of the Ranji Trophy at Alappuzha.
Jurel, who had made his First-Class debut last year against Vidarbha, has so far made 790 runs from 15 matches at an average of 46 with a hundred and five fifties in the domestic circuit.
However, KS Bharat could be the first-choice wicketkeeper batter and the selectors have also named KL Rahul for the role.
Rahul had donned the big gloves in the two Test matches against South Africa with a fair amount of success.
But it is unlikely that the Bengaluru-man could continue in the role against England as India are certain to field three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar, a move that warrants a specialist behind the stumps.
The first Test will be played at Hyderabad from January 25 and the second match will be held at Visakhapatnam from February 2.
India Test squad for the first two Tests against England: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Avesh Khan.
An action-packed Test series coming 🆙
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 12, 2024
Check out #TeamIndia's squad for the first two Tests against England 👌👌#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/vaP4JmVsGP
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
