Rahane named captain for Test vs Afghanistan, Karun Nair replaces Kohli

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad which will take on Afghanistan for the one-off Test starting June 14 in Bengaluru.

The notable inclusion in the squad is that of Karun Nair, who has made his way into the team in place of captain Virat Kohli. Nair has been in decent form in the ongoing Indian Premier League while playing for Kings XI Punjab.

The regulars - Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja retained their places in the team which will be led by vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma will come back from England after Yorkshire's away game against Surrey at the Oval from May 11-14. Yorkshire's next match is on June 20 against Hampshire.

Kohli will be plying his trade for Surrey in his maiden county stint to prepare for India's Test series in England in June. But he will play in the two Twenty20 Internationals against Ireland in Dublin in June.

The selectors also announced the squads for the limited-overs leg of the UK tour along with the India 'A' tour of England.

Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur