India vs England: 'Touchdown' - Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav Reach England. See Pic

Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav have reached England for the five-Test series, for which they’ve been called up to the Indian squad. Shaw and Suryakumar were in Sri Lanka with the white ball squad and they were called up after injuries to Washington Sundar and Shubman Gill.

Both Suryakumar and Prithvi Shaw tested negative for COVID-19 and were cleared to fly out of Sri Lanka. The 30-year-old right handed batsman was a part of India’s limited-overs squad in the island nation. On Friday, Team India concluded their final training session in Durham. For the last two weeks, the UK city hosted the players as their training cum warm-up match base. The members of the team will have a bubble to bubble transfer to Nottingham.

Suryakumar and Shaw will be doing their room quarantine directly in Nottingham. They were picked to join the Test squad as backup players after Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar were ruled out due to injuries.

On Tuesday, the Mumbai player Suryakumar shared a photo on Twitter. It showed him boarding the plane and showing the camera a thumbs up. The tweet reads, “Counting my blessings. Next stop, England."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was hesitant to send the duo to the UK for the Test series. Sources in the know of developments told ANI, the board officials decided that the two players had to be isolated ahead of the second T20I in Colombo. This happened after all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 and both Suryakumar and Shaw were identified as close contacts. Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Krishnappa Gowtham are still in isolation as they have not cleared the RT-PCR test.

While there is no official confirmation when Suryakumar and Shaw will be available for selection to join the squad, chances for their consideration ahead of the third Test are slim.

India’s injury woes continue to cause major setbacks before the start of the series on August 4. After Sundar, Avesh and Shubman Gill, opener Mayank Agarwal was ruled out after he was declared. On Monday, he suffered a blow on the back of his head during practice.

India Team: Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Hanuma Vihari, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Md. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Shardul Thakur, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw.

Standby players: Prasidh Krishna, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here