Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar withdrawn from India Test squad for England series

Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar were added to the Indian Test squad after all-rounder Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test with a knee injury. The Gujarat all-rounder has now recovered fully and will be available for selection for the second Test against England.

Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar were on Thursday withdrawn from the Indian Test squad and put back in the reserves after Axar Patel regained his fitness, announced the BCCI ahead of the second Test match against England starting on Saturday.

India's Shahbaz Nadeem (in photo) has been withdrawn from the Test squad along with leg-spinner Rahul Chahar(PTI)

Nadeem and Chahar were added to the Indian Test squad after all-rounder Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test with a knee injury. The Gujarat all-rounder has now recovered fully and will be available for selection for the second Test in Chennai.

"Axar Patel has recovered completely and is now available for selection for the 2nd Paytm Test in Chennai against England to be played from Saturday, 13th February. The all-rounder had complained of pain in his left knee and was ruled out of the first Test," BCCI said in a release.

Axar, who has represented India in 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is, is set to make his Test debut on Saturday. He will replace Nadeem in the Indian XI.

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India decided to pick Nadeem ahead of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav as captain Virat Kohli wanted someone to take the ball away from the right-hander.

The Jharkhand left-arm spinner, who as playing only in his second Test, failed to impress with the ball, providing too many scoring opportunities to England batsmen in the first innings. His overstepping was also a major cause of concern.

"The All-India Senior Selection Committee have now withdrawn Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar from the main squad and added the duo back to the group of standby players," the release further added.

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur

Standby players: K S Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal

Net Bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar