Team India batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav on Tuesday (August 3) left for the United Kingdom from Colombo to join the Indian Test team in England for the five-match Test series. As per reports, the duo will get entry into the country on the special provision as Sri Lanka is a Red List country under the UK Government's travel advisory.


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"Counting my blessings. Next stop, England," Yadav wrote on his social media handles and also shared a picture of him and Shaw.



Interestingly, Shaw and Suryakumar’s entry into England is being facilitated by a specially-created rule for sportspersons by the UK Government as per which Elite Sportspersons are allowed in England this summer no matter which country they belong to.


"The UK Government created Elite player exemption earlier this summer to help the Indian touring party travel in the first place. The same rule was used for other sports like football and tennis for the Euros and Wimbledon. And now that is being used for the two new players," a top ECB official told Cricbuzz on Friday (July 30).


Meanwhile, India on Monday suffered a major setback when their opening batsman Mayank Agarwal was hit on the back of his head by a short ball from teammate Mohammed Siraj during a training session owing to which he has been ruled out of the opening Test against England.


While facing Siraj, possibly the fastest in the current Indian line-up, Agarwal was apparently hit on the back of his head when he took his eyes off a short ball and took a blow on his helmet.


He was in some discomfort after opening the helmet as he sat on the ground with physio Nitin Patel attending him.


Agarwal was then seen pressing the back of his head while leaving the nets escorted by Patel.


India and England will lock horns in a five-match Test series beginning August 4 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The series will mark the start of the second cycle of the World Test Championship.