Suryakumar Yadav has received his maiden Test team call-up and he along with opener Prithvi Shaw and off-spinner all-rounder Jayant Yadav will be flying to England as replacements sought by the team management after three players were ruled out due to injury.
Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan have been forced out from the ongoing tour. The Test eries is due to start on August 4.
While Shubman was ruled out due to shin splints suffered during the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, Avesh dislocated a thumb during the warm-up game against County XI. Washington aggravated his finger injury.
A senior BCCI office-bearer confirmed the development.
"Yes, Prithvi, Surya and Jayant will be flying to England. Whether they will fly in the middle of the T20 Internationals (Prithvi and Surya are part of team in Sri Lanka) or post that is being worked out.
"But yes, these three are our replacement players for Test series in England. They might just leave after the three T20 Internationals but we will get confirmation in another three days," the senior official told PTI.
It is understood that Shaw's form has impressed the team management and Agarwal's current rhythm isn't the greatest.
However, with quarantine rules in place, it is not clear if Suryakumar and Shaw can make it in time for the first Test after completing their hard quarantine.
As far as Jayant is concerned, his superior batting abilities got the nod as he has a Test hundred and also will be a steady net bowler unless Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja suffer from any injury in a long series.
Suryakumar's assertive batting could be used during some point in the series as Ajinkya Rahane's hamstring injury will keep the team concerned.
"In any case, if Ajinkya misses the first Test, it will be KL Rahul who will bat in the middle order in Nottingham. The team management is still confident that Ajinkya might be alright before the Nottingham Test."
