Top bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the Brisbane Test with injuries, have been named in India’s 18-member squad for the first two Tests of the home series against England.

Regular captain Virat Kohli, who was on paternity leave, will be back to lead the side.

Senior pacer Ishant Sharma, who missed the entire tour of Australia, also returned to the squad, while the newly assembled selection committee, headed by Chetan Sharma, handed a call-up to left-arm spinner Axar Patel as Ravindra Jadeja will need more time to recover from a finger surgery.

Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran is among the standby players.

Squad for first two Tests

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after first Test), Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, R. Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel.