Ishan Kishan Has Been Ruled Out of the First Two Red Ball Matches Against England in Five Match Test Series

IND Vs ENG: The Test series between IND Vs ENG will start from January 25^th 2024. This series will be the part of the World Test Championship 2023 to 2025, where the Men in Blue are ranked first in the points table. Ben Stokes has been a terrific leader of the red ball format till now and he hasn’t lost any Test series so far.

The BAZBALL Style will be tested in the spin friendly conditions of India. Ben Stokes and co did well in Pakistan with a similar approach and they also ended up winning their maiden series of the red ball format on the soil of Pakistan. England also drew the Ashes Series despite losing the opening two matches against the Aussies.

The five match series of the red ball format between IND Vs ENG will be shown on the Sports Network 18 for English Commentary listeners, Colors Cineplex is for those who love hearing the commentary in the national language of the country which is Hindi and JioCinema is the live streaming service available on its mobile application and website.

IND Vs ENG: Full Schedule of The First Two Red Ball Games

India has announced their squad for the first two red ball games against England. Here are the complete match details, with the venues, match timings and toss timings.

1^st Test Match IND Vs ENG - Thursday, 25^th January 2024 to Monday, 29^th January 2024

Venue - Rajv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad

Second Red Ball Match of this five match series between IND Vs ENG -  Friday, 2^nd February 2024 to Tuesday, 6^th February 2024

Venue - Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam  

Toss Timings for all the matches of this series – 9 AM Indian Standard Time (IST), and Local 3.30 AM GMT

Match Timings for this entire 5 match Test Series – 9.30 AM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 4 AM GMT.

IND Vs ENG: Men in Blue Have Announced Their Squad For The Opening Two Red Ball Games

Dhruv Jurel has been picked in India’s red ball format squad for the first two red ball matches against England. Dhruv is a keeper batter from Uttar Pradesh.

He has played 15 first-class matches so far. India has named two more wicketkeepers for this series. KL Rahul keeps his place in the side and KS Bharat will be the third wicketkeeping option in this five-match red ball series between IND Vs ENG.

However, Ishan Kishan was not picked in the first two matches of this series. Kishan was told to be part of the current T20 International series against Afghanistan. But he chose to play the Ranji Trophy matches instead of obeying his coach's orders. Ishan requested for a break and insisted to play in the domestic tournament.

That’s why Dhruv Jurel has got a golden opportunity now. Jurel has also played in the Indian Premier League tournament and he made his debut last year. The 22-year-old wicketkeeper was in the squad of emerging teams of the Asia Cup and he was even included in the India A tour of South Africa, and now the WK batter from UP is also part of the team which would take on England Lions as well.

Prasidh Krishna misses out from the first two games after a disappointing series in the Proteas Nation. Avesh Khan, who was added in the last Test match in Cape Town keeps his place while Mukesh Kumar had impressive last red-ball match in South Africa also cementing his place in India’s Test squad for the time being.

Mohammed Shami is not included in the first two games of the red ball format because of his ankle injury. Shami had also missed the two-match red ball series against South Africa as well.

So Mukesh has a chance to show his class against a power packed side like England in the home conditions. If the pacer does well then, he might feature in all the five red ball games of this series.

Rohit and Jaiswal will be the openers for the first two game alongside Gill at number three and King Kohli at number four. KL Rahul might be the first-choice keeper batter for the first two matches of this series at least.

But runs will be expected from Shreyas Iyer, who failed to perform in the two-match red ball series in South Africa.

India has picked four spinners in this series. Along with Ashwin and Jadeja, the home side also have Axar Patel and the chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav in their squad. Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the vice-captain for the first two red ball games.

IND Vs ENG: India’s 16 Member Test Match Squad Against England

Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), KS Bharat(wk), Dhruv Jurel(wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah(vc), and Avesh Khan.