England vs India 2018: How will India's Test squad look like

Middle-order - Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair

Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been sweating it out in the County Championships for Yorkshire is a certainty in the squad but his place in the XI is yet to be sealed as he has been going through a tough time with the bat in his county stint. To make things worse for him, KL Rahul has looked good of late.

Skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane are certainties to be in the squad for the Tests. India will be tempted to take an extra middle-order batsman to England in spite of having KL Rahul, who batted in the middle order against Afghanistan.

If the selectors decide to go for an extra middle-order batsman, then both Karun Nair and Rohit Sharma are likely to get the nod. If they feel that just one back-up is enough, which I feel will be the case, Karun might just have an upper hand over Rohit, who was not included in the squad to face Afghanistan.