England call up two uncapped spinners for five-Test tour of India

England have called up two uncapped spinners, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir to their Test squad for the upcoming tour of India.

Hartley and Bashir were both part of the England Lions group that trained in the United Arab Emirates last month but Bashir has only played six first-class matches in his entire career for Somerset and only taken 10 wickets at an average of 67.00.

England under Brendon McCullum have called up relatively untested spin options before, such as when they selected teenager Rehan Ahmed for the tour of Pakistan last winter. He went on to take a memorable five-fer on debut against Pakistan as he became the youngest player to make a Test appearance for England’s men and is also included in the latest squad.

Ben Stokes has been named as captain, although faces a difficult challenge to recover in time from the knee surgery he underwent at the end of November, and England will be hoping he can return as an all-rounder rather than playing purely as a batter, as he was forced to do during the final three Ashes Test matches and the entire World Cup.

England have spurned the all-rounders who appeared in their recent dismal World Cup campaign, and there is also no place in the 16-strong group for either Liam Livingstone or Will Jacks, with the latter also being a notable absentee when the central contracts were announced. Jacks played two Test matches in Pakistan last winter, when he took six wickets during the memorable late win at Rawalpindi, while either he or Livingstone would have bolstered England’s fragile-looking batting unit.

There is a recall to the squad for Ben Foakes, who was left out of the summer series in favour of Jonny Bairstow, but the specialist Surrey keeper is an expert against spin and during his seven Test matches in Asia, averages 41.90 with the bat, including one century and two fifties.

Surrey quick Gus Atkinson could be called on to make his debut, but questions have been raised over the seam attack as a whole, which also includes James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood. The out-and-out quick Wood is regularly plagued with injuries and five matches in India could be a tough ask, while Robinson has not played any cricket since the third Ashes Test at Headingley in July when he suffered back spasms and Anderson is now 41 years old.

Robinson’s fitness has been of concern to England in the past and saw him dropped from the squad in the West Indies, and not selected for the final two Ashes matches.

England Men’s squad for tour of India:

Ben Stokes (Durham – captain)

Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)

James Anderson (Lancashire)

Gus Atkinson (Surrey)

Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)

Shoaib Bashir (Somerset)

Harry Brook (Yorkshire)

Zak Crawley (Kent)

Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)

Ben Foakes (Surrey)

Tom Hartley (Lancashire)

Jack Leach (Somerset)

Ollie Pope (Surrey)

Ollie Robinson (Sussex)

Joe Root (Yorkshire)

Mark Wood (Durham)

Schedule for India vs England Test series

1st Test: India v England, 25-29 January, Hyderabad

2nd Test: India v England, 2-6 February, Vizag

3rd Test: India v England, 15-19 February, Rajkot

4th Test: India v England, 23-27 February, Ranchi

5th Test: India v England, 7-11 March, Dharamsala