Indian cricket team selection on May 8 for Afghanistan Test, England tour

The BCCI on May 8 will announce the Indian cricket team that will play Afghanistan’s debut Test and the squad for the limited overs tour in England too.

The national selection committee are set to announce multiple Indian squads on May 8 for the upcoming one-off Test match against Afghanistan next month along with the team for the limited overs leg of the tour of UK starting June 27 in Dublin.

The Indian cricket team for the first Test against Afghanistan will be chosen on May 8. (AFP)

“There will be three squads that will be selected on May 8. The Afghanistan Test is from June 14-18, followed by UK tour that starts with two-match ODI series against Ireland in Dublin. The selectors will also name the India A squad that will tour England in June,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition on anonymity.

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The decision to announce the squad in advance is to ascertain who all are available for the Afghanistan Test with likes of Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma set to miss the historic Test against Afghanistan due to their county commitments.

Chesteshwar Pujara, however, will comeback from UK for the Test against Afghanistan and then return back after playing the match as his county side Yorkshire doesn’t have any game during that period.

Also, procuring UK visa is another issue for a few players, which has prompted the board to ask the selectors to quickly announce the squad.

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COA Vinod Rai has already said that in order to ensure a good performance in England, at least six to seven Test specialist will be in England in June with the India A side to acclimatise with the conditions.

According to the BCCI official, the Indian A team will have seven regular players from the senior side, including Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya among others. They will be leaving for UK soon after the match against Afghanistan.

India A tour of UK begins on June 21.