Sam Curran ruled out of remaining India-England Tests, to return for limited-overs series

England all-rounder Sam Curran has been ruled out of the ongoing Test series against India, the ECB confirmed on Thursday night. After being rested for the first two Tests, the young all-rounder was slated to be in contention for the remaining matches. However, keeping the bio-bubble constraints in view, his rest period was prolonged even as Mark Wood and Bairstow flew to India for the third Test. Now, the ECB has said that Curran will miss the fourth Test as well and be back for the limited-overs series directly. 

"Sam Curran will rejoin the England squad via the charter flight carrying other members of the limited-overs line-up to India, on 26 February. Originally it was planned the Surrey all-rounder would fly to Ahmedabad in time to be available for the fourth Test in the city, starting on 4 March," PTI quoted the ECB on Thursday. 

"However, in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, making secure arrangements for such a journey proved too great a logistical challenge," the ECB statement further read. 

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While the third Test begins in Ahmedabad on February 24, followed by the fourth and final match of the series at the same venue from March 4, the limited-overs leg of the England tour begins with a T20 International at the Motera stadium on March 12. India levelled the series 1-1 on Tuesday after having registered an empathic victory of 317 runs at the Chepauk stadium. 

India announce squad for last 2 Tests 

Senior pacer Umesh Yadav will join the team in Ahmedabad and after his fitness assessment. Yadav will be replacing Shardul Thakur, who will be released for Vijay Hazare Trophy. Pacers Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan as well as Sandeep Warrier, and the spin duo of  Krishnappa Gowtham, and Saurabh Kumar has been roped in as the net bowlers whereas, wicket-keeper batsman KS Bharat, and leggie Rahul Chahar have been selected as Standby players. The Indian squad remains mostly unchanged going into the day-night Test at the Motera. 

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On the other hand, the visitors have brought back wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow, who seemed to be in stellar form against Sri Lanka in the recently concluded series. Pacer Mark Wood has also been included in the side for the day/night Test against India, starting February 24 in Ahmedabad. 

England squad for Third Test: Joe Root (C), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

India squad for Third Test: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj.

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