Karthik returns, Sanju dropped for SA T20I series

Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik has forced his way back into the Indian team. File photo: Twitter@RCBTweets

Batsman Cheteshwar Pujara's red-hot form for Sussex earned him a place in the Indian squad on Sunday for the one-off Test against England in July.

India were 2-1 ahead when the final Test at Old Trafford was cancelled last year following COVID-19 cases in their camp. Edgbaston will host the match from July 1.

Pujara, dropped after India's tour of South Africa this year, was picked in the 17-member squad after his four 100-plus scores, including two double hundreds, in five county championship division two matches.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who missed the final Indian Premier League matches with a rib injury, was also picked alongside fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

India rested several frontline players, including captain Rohit Sharma and batsman Virat Kohli, and put K L Rahul in charge of an 18-member squad for next month's home T20I series against South Africa.

Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has made a comeback to the T20I team, while Kerala star Sanju Samson has been dropped. Pacer Umran Malik and medium-pacer Arshdeep Singh have earned a maiden call-up to the national team.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who last played for India in last year's T20 World Cup, has made a comeback.

Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

T20I squad: K L Rahul (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(vice-capt & wk),Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

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