England vs India 2018: 3 deserving Indians who are unlucky to miss out on the last 2 Tests 

While the Indian team was still celebrating its triumph, the selectors announced the squad for the last two Tests. 15 from the initial squad were retained. Domestic heavyweights Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw displaced opener Murali Vijay and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Jadeja, Shardul and Karun Nair, who didn’t get an opportunity so far, hold on to their spots.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t feature in the squad as he is yet to recover from his back problem.

Though each and every selected player richly deserved to be in the squad, there were a few others who couldn’t make the cut, despite giving uncompromising performances time and again. Let’s have a look at them.

Squad for the last two Tests: Virat Kohli (C), Dhawan, Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Hardik Pandya, Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karun Nair, Bumrah.

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#3 Mohammed Siraj

Siraj picked up 15 wickets against South Africa A

Mohammed Siraj’s rise as a cricketer is nothing short of phenomenal. Hailing from a humble background, the autorickshaw’s son first bowled with a cricket ball only in 2015. In his second season for Hyderabad, he was their highest wicket-taker with 41 scalps to his name.

He didn’t stop there and went on to don the Indian jersey in a T20 encounter against New Zealand. Though he couldn't make any noise in the 3 T20s he has played so far, he has always been under the selectors’ radar.

He toured England recently, representing India A, and the inswinging bowler returned with 15 wickets in his kitty. His adroitness with the ball was manifested even more when he bundled 14 South Africa A wickets on a batting-friendly wicket in Bengaluru.

Considering his recent feats it makes you wonder if the in-form Hyderabadi should have replaced Shardul Thakur in the squad.

#2 Rajneesh Gurbani

Gurbani has made taking 5-wicket hauls a habit

Vidarbha won its maiden Ranji Trophy title, thanks to a certain Rajneesh Gurbani. His 12-wicket haul in the semi-final against Karnataka showed Karnataka the door. In the finals, he conjured a hat-trick, thus becoming only the second bowler to take a hat-trick in the finals of the Ranji Trophy.

He topped the wickets chart for Vidarbha in the 2017-2018 Ranji season with 39 wickets pinned against his name.

Gurbani’s ability to beget profound movement has made the life of batters a misery. And considering the heavy duty of the seamers so far, it would have been wise of the selectors and management to get the Vidarbha star in, for a game or two against the English.

#1 Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal had a record-breaking domestic season

None can be considered unluckier than the 27-year-old Kannadiga, Mayank Agarwal. A cricketer needs to do certain things to earn a national call-up. Mayank has done all that and even more. He led the batting pack in the 2017-2018 Ranji season, mountaining 1,160 runs.

Again, he topped the batting chart in the 2017-2018 Vijay Hazare Trophy, when he scored 723 runs for fun. Unsurprisingly, he ended his domestic season with 2,141 runs across all formats, the highest ever for any batsman in a single season of domestic cricket.

With an opening slot up for grabs, it was a no-brainer to send Mayank to England. Except, it wasn’t to be. Perhaps his abysmal outing with India A in England made the selectors believe that he wasn’t adept at playing in English conditions. The Kings XI star scored a paltry 69 runs in four innings in England.