4 takeaways from India's Test squad against England

India announced an 18-member squad for the first three Test matches against England, starting at Edgbaston from the 1st of August. Rishabh Pant earned his maiden call-up to the Test squad while Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not find a spot owing to a back issue that has plagued right throughout the tour.

In the absence of Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik will most likely be behind the stumps and it will be interesting to see the bowling combination India go with to match with the batting in order to attain the balance which would help them beat England in their own backyard for the first time in 11 years.

The selections for the matches revealed aspects about how the selectors were thinking for the future but were careful of the present in ensuring they too get a chance to put their experience to use in English conditions.

Here are five takeaways from the team picked for the first three Tests:

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Is this really the end of the road for Rohit Sharma?

It is no secret to anyone that Rohit Sharma is as different as chalk-and-cheese while playing the red ball and white ball cricket. The ease with his dominates bowlers in white ball cricket and the manner in which he struggles when the same cherry turns red is a well-known fact in cricketing circles around the world.

The Indian selectors after having persisted with him for a long time seem to have finally realised that when his name was not included in the squad selected for the first three Test matches against England.

For a large part of omission, Sharma himself is at fault. In Virat Kohli, he has a captain who ha backed him to the hilt almost, even picking him ahead of proven performers like Ajinkya Rahane and yet he has flattered to deceive.

With this non-selection, one really has to ponder: Is this end for Rohit in Test cricket? Will the selectors show faith and pick him again? Like Pujara, will it help if he plays county cricket?

The rest of 2018 should present a better picture.

Will Bhuvneshwar Kumar play any part in the Test series?

How will India cope with the loss of this man?

The series against South Africa at the start of the year showed that Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most anti-Virat Kohli cricketer in the present setup, but one which India needed because of the effort he put in with the bat, ball and in the field.

But a back injury in the subsequent months restricted his participation in the IPL, forced him to miss the one-off Test against Afghanistan and then could not play a large part of the white-ball leg in India's tour to England.

Owing to that injury, he was not picked in the squad for the first three Tests and it is safe to say that India will miss him for the all-round effectiveness that he provides.

Kohli and co. will hope he returns to full fitness and plays in the fourth and fifth Tests.

The bowling combination that will suit India the best

Kohli will have a lot of options to pick from in the bowling

India have gone with five specialist fast bowlers and a bowler all-rounder in Hardik Pandya and the spin department will be marshalled by R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and the chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who has displayed good form on tour so far.

To lend balance, India could pick Pandya as one of the seamers and Ashwin as one of the finger spinners to partner the wrist spin of Kuldeep. That leaves two spots between Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur.

Because he can bowl long spells and also has played county cricket for Sussex this year, Ishant is a favourite for one of the spots and then Kohli has the option of either going for Shami, who can swing both the new and the old ball or Yadav, who can hustle the batsmen with his pace.

Either way, India seem to have an attack that hasn't been this varied in a long, long time and it is now upto them to deliver.

The Pant inclusion- a one-off or an investment for the future

Has the future arrived?

In what can be called as a commendable decision by the selectors, Delhi youngster Rishabh Pant found a place in the squad as the backup wicket-keeper to Dinesh Karthik in the squad, ahead of the likes of Parthiv Patel, who was picked for the South Africa tour earlier in the year.

The left-hander had a terrific IPL season with the Delhi Daredevils and he backed that with an equally good showing in the 'A' series in England and those exploits have earned him his maiden call-up to the Test side.

It remains to be seen now if Pant is picked regularly in the Indian squad for subsequent tours or if this is just a one-off since a few others are injured and out.