India vs Afghanistan: Karun Nair replaces Virat Kohli in Test squad

Bengaluru, May 8: Karnataka middle-order batsman Karun Nair replaced skipper Virat Kohli for the one-off Test against Afghanistan from June 14-18 in Bengaluru, making an unexpected comeback to the squad. Ajinkya Rahane will be leading India in the historic one-off Test with almost all the Test team specialists being a part of the 15-member squad.

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The 26-year-old Nair is India's second triple centurion in Test cricket after Virender Sehwag. He has scored 612 runs for his state this Ranji season. The development comes as a surprise as Delhi Daredevils skipper Shreyas Iyer was tipped to be included in the squad instead of Kohli. Iyer was instead included in the squad for the three-ODI series against England. He will also captain the India 'A' team for a tri-series in the UK. Nair, on the other hand, will lead in the long format.

#TeamIndia for one-off Test against Afghanistan announced

Ajinkya (Capt), Shikhar, Vijay, KL Rahul, Pujara, Karun Nair, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Umesh, Shami, Hardik, Ishant, Shardul #INDvAFG
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 8, 2018

Kohli would be busy playing county cricket for Surrey when the match takes place here to prepare for the tour of England starting in July. The batting star will, however, play in the two T20 Internationals against Ireland in Dublin where pacer Siddarth Kaul might get his maiden call-up in the shortest format after a string good performances in the ongoing IPL.

#TeamIndia Upcoming Matches

June 14 - IND Vs AFG Only Test

June 27 to June 29 - IND Vs IRE T20's

July 3 To Sep 11 - IND Vs ENG (All)

21st Nov 2018 To 18th Jan 2019 - IND Vs AUS (All)

March To April End - IPL 2019

May 30 to July 14 - ICC WC19
— VIRATian (@EwilSmile) May 7, 2018

Interestingly, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was included as a batsman despite the presence of MS Dhoni.

Spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were named in the Test squad. They have, however, not been retained for the limited-overs series as the team management prefers wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav to them.

All-rounder Washington Sundar, despite being deaf in one ear, has established himself in Team India.

Sundar was also included in the Indian team for the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka last year#earguru #IPL #IPL2018 #SRHvRCB #RCB #VIVOIPL #TeamIndia #Cricket #BCCI pic.twitter.com/4jCPJcQl4r
— EarGuru (@earguru) May 7, 2018

The squads:

India Squad for one-off Test against Afghanistan: Ajinkya Rahane (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur.

India squad for two-match T20I series against Ireland: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddharth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.

India squad for three-match T20I series against England: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddharth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.

India squad for three-match ODI series against England: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddharth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.

The India 'A' tour of England will begin with an ODI tri-series against England Lions (A team) and West Indies A, from June 22. India A will play a four-day 'Test' against the 'Lions' from July 16-19 at Worcester apart from a couple of three-day games against county sides. Seven Test team regulars will be there in UK after completion of Afghanistan Test to get into the groove.

India 'A' team for One-Day Tri-series in the UK: Shreyas Iyer (Capt), Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubhman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, K Gowtham, Axar Patel, Krunal Pandya, Prasidh M Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur

India 'A' team for four-day matches in the UK: Karun Nair (Capt), R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, AR Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat (wk), Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ankit Rajpoot, Md Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Rajneesh Gurbani