Vihari, Shaw in; Vijay axed for last two England Tests

Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw find a spot in India’s 18-man Test squad for the fourth and fifth Tests against England.

Prithvi Shaw has scored two centuries and a fifty in his last four first-class outings.

Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari have replaced Murali Vijay and Kuldeep Yadav in the Indian team for the last two Tests against England, it was announced here on Wednesday.

Vijay made scores of 20 and 6 in the first Test before bagging a pair at Lord's. He was dropped from the team for the third Test.

Read: Prithvi Shaw high on India selection news

The Tamil Nadu batsman has been a reliable opener for India but at 34, his future in Test cricket seems uncertain. Shaw is only 18 but he gave a good account of himself on India A's tour of England earlier this year, scored one first-class hundred and two in the one-day tri-series. The opener is in fine form too, having scored 136 for India A against South Africa A in Bengaluru two weeks ago. Even so, it is a bold move by the All India Senior Selection Committee, which met here.

Hanuma Vihari, a 24-year-old batsman from Andhra, has an excellent first-class record, with an average close to 60. He was also part of the India A team which toured England in June, scoring a one-day hundred against West Indies A in the triangular series.

Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed the first three Tests with injury, will also miss the last two Tests.

The team: Virat Kohli (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari.