India vs England: Ollie Pope clears fitness test, joins English squad for Test series against Virat Kohli & Co

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Chennai, Feb 3: Surrey batsman Ollie Pope has been added to the England Test squad for the tour of India after the cricketer recovered from his shoulder injury.

In an official communique, the England & Wales Cricket Board said: "Pope has fully recovered from a left shoulder injury sustained in August 2020 against Pakistan. The England medical team are satisfied that he is available for selection."

The 23-year-old batsman has practised with the full squad over the past two days at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. England will have their final practice at Chepauk on Thursday (February 4) ahead of the first Test starting on Friday (February 5).

The two teams will play two Tests at this venue before heading to Ahmedabad where the last two Tests will be played at the newly constructed Sardar Patel Stadium (Motera).

Earlier last month, the National Selectors in England announced a strong 16-member squad and six travelling reserves for the two-Test matches against India.

England's star all-rounder Ben Stokes, pace sensation Jofra Archer and batsman Rory Burns are making a comeback into the English side for the highly-anticipated tour.

Wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, all-rounder Sam Curran and pacer Mark Wood were rested for the opening two Tests. Bairstow getting rested by the selectors didn't go down well with several cricket experts in England as they felt the Yorkshire cricketer could have made the English batting line-up stronger.

Here's England Squad for first two Tests in India: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Ollie Pope.

Reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi were named as the reserves.