Mayank Agarwal to join India's squad in England ahead of one-off Test

Opener Mayank Agarwal is set to join Team India's Test squad for the one-off game against England at Edgbaston beginning on July 1.

The 31-year-old will head to England on Monday (June 27). Most importantly, he will immediately be in contention to play the Test without needing to undergo quarantine, as per the new rules of the government.

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill were the three openers named for the one-off Test. However, Rahul injured his groin in the lead-up to the South Africa T20Is and has been ruled out of the entire tour, including the white-ball leg.

Moreover, problems compounded for the visitors as their captain Sharma tested positive for COVID-19. His recovery in time for the match is now in serious doubt. Thus, the decision was made to send Agarwal as cover given the importance of a specialist opener in English conditions.

---

Mayank Agarwal hasn't been in great form of late

Mayank Agarwal has received a number of opportunities previously to cement his place in the Test team at the top of the order. However, inconsistency has severely affected the 31-year-old's chances.

In his previous Test series against Sri Lanka, Agarwal could only manage 59 runs at an average of 19.66. His poor form was also visible in the IPL 2022 season and he couldn't make an impact for his state team Karnataka as they crashed out of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals.

Agarwal's issues against the moving ball have been well documented as he often pokes at deliveries that could be left alone. Overall, he has scored 1,488 runs in 21 Tests for India with six half-centuries, four hundreds and a high-score of 243.

With makeshift choices like Cheteshwar Pujar and Hanuma Vihari available, it will be interesting to see what opening combination India go in with on July 1.

India's squad for one-off Test: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Mayank Agarwal.