India vs England: Skipper Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Hardik return to India squad

Regular skipper VIrat Kohli, who has been on paternity leave since the first Test, attended the meeting virtually on Tuesday (Jan 19) as India named an 18-man squad. As per reports in ESPN, Hardik Pandya, who lost his father last week, was named in the 18-man squad for the first two Tests of the home series against England.

Skipper Virat Kohli is set to return for the upcoming series, while KL Rahul, who is also believed to have made it to the squad, will be available only subject to his fitness.

As per reports in ESPN, Ishant Sharma, who missed the just-concluded Australia series is also set to return.

Four standbys have been included in the squad. The standbys named in the squad, who played for India A as well, include, KS Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Rahul Chahar and Shahbaz Nadeem.

Meanwhile, five net bowlers have also been included in the squad. Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar and Sandeep Warrier have been named as the net bowlers.