England hand maiden call-up to Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir for India Tests

England have announced their squads for the tour of India, with spinners Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir joining the likes of Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed. The spin-heavy squad also feature the likes of James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, and Mark Wood among the pacers.

Hartley, who has represented England in two ODIs, has picked up 40 first-class wickets in 20 games for Lancashire, and he has been called to the squad, keeping an eye on the turners that will be dished out in India. Bashir made his first-class debut for Somerset in the 2023 season and has been fast-tracked after his appearance for the England Lions in the UAE last month.

"I think we focus more on what style of cricket we want to play and what do we think is going to go out there and win," Rob Key said. "It's about 'what is someone's up-side?'. It's very hard, especially for spinners in English cricket, to judge them on their numbers as such. You're not going to expect your spinner to average 24 with the ball in county cricket, you're trying to see something else and back their character.

"You want to see how the ball comes out of their hand - you're going more to the art of selection, rather than the science of selection - and you back that environment that Stokes and McCullum have created with all the other players, to get the best out of these people. With Stokesy's captaincy in particular, your bet is often that he'll be the one who can get something out of these players. You just want to create an environment where you think they can thrive, which is no mean feat when you're talking about a Test tour of India."

The Ben Stokes-led side have two wicket-keeping options in Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, but all-rounder Chris Woakes has been left out of the side after making an appearance in the Ashes last September. 

England’s tour of India begins in Hyderabad on January 25 before they travel to Visakhapatnam for the second Test that starts on February 2. Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala will host the next three Tests respectively. 

England Test squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root Mark Wood