The Indian cricket team has announced their 17-man squad for the remaining two Tests of the four-match series against England, to be played at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Pacer Umesh Yadav has been drafted into the Test squad for the third and fourth Tests in place of Shardul Thakur, who will be released to take part in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting from February 20.

Yadav will undergo a fitness assessment at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) before joining the team as he returns to competitive cricket after recovering from the calf injury he picked up during the Boxing Day Test against Australia.

"Umesh Yadav will join the team in Ahmedabad and after his fitness assessment will replace Shardul Thakur, who will be released for Vijay Hazare Trophy," said BCCI in a release.

The BCCI selection committee also picked five net bowlers and two players as standbys for the final two Tests.

Net Bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

Standby players: KS Bharat, Rahul Chahar.

Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem and Priyank Panchal, who were standbys for the first two Tests have been released for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

After suffering a 227-run defeat in the first Test, Virat Kohli-led Team India bounced back in emphatic fashion as the hosts thrashed England by 317 runs in the second to level the series 1-1 in Chennai. 

India Test Squad for third and fourth Tests: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav (subject to fitness).

Feature image courtesy: William WEST / AFP

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Virat KohliUmesh YadavShardul ThakurIndiaEngland