The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a fresh 18-men squad for the first three matches of the five-match test series against England.

20-year old cricketer Rishabh Pant is garnering a lot of attention as the only fresh face in the list. He received his maiden call from the national team for the position of the wicket-keeper alongside Dinesh Karthik.

Pant has been named the reserve wicket-keeper of the team, and his claim for inclusion in the elite line-up comes strong with his talented wicket-keeping and a fine batting style.

The team for the first three matches of the test series are: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Shardul Thakur.

India will face the English team in Birmingham on August 1 in the first match of the five-match series. The other four matches will be played at Lord's, Trent Bridge, The Rose Bowl and Kennington Oval respectively.

(Featured Image – BCCI)