Worcester: Having started off the England tour on a positive note winning the T20 series earlier in the month, the Indian team management has decided to give some match practice to opener Murali Vijay and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane to get them on groove ahead of the five-match Test series England starting August 1.
Vijay and rahane will be a part of the India A squad which plays its last first-class game against England Lions at the County Ground in Worcester, Monday. Both the players last played the one-off Test against Afghanistan.
Rahane and Vijay are certainties in the Indian Test squad but unlike others, they would need more red-ball match time according to some of the sources. The Test squad against England is expected to be announced during or after the England Lions game as it will give them a clearer picture about the availability of certain players.
While the other two Test specialists — Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma are playing county cricket for quite some time now this season, the management is also awaiting for an update on fitness status of first-choice wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
However, it is still uncertain when pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be returning after he was ruled out of the T20 series with a stiff back.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami has finally cleared his YoYo test but the team management will like to ensure that he is in a good mental space after having gone through personal problems in recent months.