New Delhi: Seasoned leg-spinner Amit Mishra on Thursday was recalled to the Indian cricket team for the three-Test away series against Sri Lanka next month.
The experienced 32-year-old tweaker replaced young leg-spinner Karn Sharma in the team. Sharma was in the team that travelled to Bangladesh last month. Mishra’s inclusion was the lone change in the team.
Mishra last played a Test match for India during the 2011 tour of England, playing two games and claiming three wickets. He picked up 10 wickets from six games in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season and picked up nine wickets from 12 games in the 2015 Indian Premier League.
Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh, who made a comeback to the team in the one-off Test against Bangladesh, was retained as the second spinner.
Karn and fast bowler Mohammed Shami were left out due to fitness related issues. Karn, who was ruled out of India’s tour of Zimbabwe in July with a fractured finger, is still recuperating from the injury while Shami is yet to get match-fit since his knee surgery.
Young Karnataka batsman K.L. Rahul, who missed the one-off Test in Bangladesh due to fever, has also been included in the team to be captained by Virat Kohli.
India are scheduled to play three Tests in Sri Lanka. The first Test begins at Galle on August 12, followed by two matches at Colombo, starting August 20 and 28, respectively.
The squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wrddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, R. Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.