England tour of India: Three uncapped players included as ECB announces 16-man squad for five Tests

England are set to tour India early next year for five Tests. On Monday (Dec 11), the England Cricket Board (ECB) announced a 16-member England squad featuring three uncapped players.Surrey speedsterGus Atkinson and off-spinners Tom Hartley (Lancashire) and Shoaib Bashir (Somerset) are part of the squad with England focusing on their spin department in their subcontinental tour. Meanwhile, it also sees the return of Rehan Ahmed who made his debut in the format during England's tour of Pakistan last December.

Talking about some other big points, Chris Woakes and Liam Dawson have been excluded, wicketkeeper-batterBen Foakes has been recalled whereasOllie Pope and Jack Leach mark their return. Woakes' exclusion is a big surprise as he ended as the Player-of-the-Series in the Ashes 2023 edition, at home, after being a late addition. However, it seems England have focussed more on strengthening their spin department and, hence, have gone ahead with James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood to spearhead the pace attack.

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England last toured India for a Test series in early 2021, when Joe Root-led England lost the four-match series 3-1. It will be interesting to how they compete this time around. Moreover, all eyes are on how the much-talked-about Bazball works in India, against the likes of R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, etc.

Ben Stokes(captain)
Rehan Ahmed
James Anderson
Gus Atkinson
Jonny Bairstow
Shoaib Bashir
Harry Brook
Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ben Foakes
Tom Hartley
Jack Leach
Ollie Pope
Ollie Robinson
Joe Root
Mark Wood

1st Test:India vs England, Jan 25-29, Hyderabad
2nd Test:India vs England, Feb 2-6, Vizag
3rd Test:India vs England, Feb 15-19, Rajkot
4th Test:India vs England, Feb 23-27, Ranchi
5th Test:India vs England, Mar 7-11, Dharamsala