Murali Vijay returns to India squad for Sri Lanka Tests

Ajinkya Rahane will continue to be Virat Kohli's deputy in the squad announced for first two Tests of the three-match series.

New Delhi: The BCCI Selection Committee headed by MSK Prasad on Monday announced India's Test squad for the first two matches of the home series against Sri Lanka, which saw opening batsman Murali Vijay returning to the longest format.

There are no surprises in the Test squad with Abhinav Mukund making way for a fit-again first-choice opener Vijay. Vijay did not take part in the last Test series against Sri Lanka due to a hand injury and some other fitness-related issues.

Ajinkya Rahane has been retained as vice-captain of the Test team led by Virat Kohli. It is expected that Kohli will be rested for the final Test and the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, which is slated in December, as he will be required fresh and re-energised before the tough tour of South Africa.

Predictably, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja made a comeback in the longer version with Kuldeep Yadav being the third specialist spinner.

Senior speedsters Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma are back in the squad for the five-day format along with Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha.

The selectors also named the Board President XI (BP XI) squad led by Naman Ojha for a two-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka before the Test series. 

TEST SQUAD:

Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Hardik Pandya

BP XI SQUAD:

Naman Ojha (c/wk), Sanju Samson, Jiwanjot Singh, B Sandeep, Tanmay Agarwal, Abhishek Gupta, Rohan Prem, Akash Bhandari, Jalaj Saxena, Chama Milind, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Ravi Kiran

(With PTI inputs)