Tearaway pacer Jofra Archer has been included in England’s ODI squad for a three-game rubber against India later this month. The Rajasthan Royals player was rested the last time around when England featured in an ODI series.
That was against Sri Lanka in January earlier this year.
Since Zak Crawley has been dropped, which can only mean one thing: Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Jacob Bethell is the red-hot favourite to keep Ben Duckett company as a fellow opener. Bethell has batted as an opener for England Under-19s and England Lions in the 50-overs format.
Medium pacers Gus Atkinson and Shaqib Mahmood have been recalled for the series. Atkinson took an important five-for to guide England to a win against New Zealand in the first Test early last month. However, he had to miss the second Test after getting embroiled in a bar brawl controversy along with then England Test skipper Ben Stokes. A lot has happened since. Stokes retired as New Zealand came from behind to claim the series 2-1. 28-year-old Atkinson has not played any ODIs since February last year. Incidentally, that series was also against India in India.
Two uncapped players!
There are two new players in the England squad. One is seasoned Test bowler Josh Tongue. The other is batting all-rounder James Matthew Coles. The 22-year-old from Sussex also bowls left-arm orthodox spin. Medium pacers Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton could not make the squad on account of their hand and quad injuries respectively. Besides Crawley, Luke Wood is another player who has been dropped for the upcoming rubber.
The first game of the series will be played at Edgbaston on July 14. On July 16 and July 19, the rest of the games will be played at Sophia Gardens and Lord’s respectively. India too have announced a strong squad for the series with big names Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma featuring in it.
England ODI squad: Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (captain), Jos Buttler, James Coles, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Josh Tongue
India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar