Kolkata Knight Riders’ Prasidh Krishna could be a surprise pick in India’s England-bound squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand in Southampton from June 18.

The five-member selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma, is likely to meet via video conference on Friday. There has been no communication from the BCCI on whether to select the squad for the five-Test series in England as well but the group will include at least 25 players given the strict quarantine rules in the UK.

While retaining most of the members who played in the series against England at home, the selectors might decide against keeping Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder has been bowling only in the T20 games and that hasn’t pleased the selectors.

Krishna is learnt to have impressed the team management during the ODIs versus England. Mohammed Shami will return but T. Natarajan will be out because of surgery. Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and

Mohammed Siraj will be the other pacers.

Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja are also expected to be back in the squad.

One worry is India’s inclusion in the UK’s “red list” of countries whose citizens are banned from entering owing to Covid-19 fears.