Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane set to play for India A against England Lions

In a bid to prepare for the England Test series, India opener Murali Vijay and Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane would feature for India A in their last match at Worcester, which has been scheduled to begin from Monday. Both Rahane and Vijay have not been a part of the limited-overs fixtures but would look to get into the groove before the Test series starts on August 1. Though the selectors haven’t announced the squad yet, the two batsmen would likely make it to the team.

Rahane scored a hundred at Lord’s during India’s 2014 tour while Murali Vijay also struck a ton on the tour. Apart from these two, India’s Test mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara and fast bowler Ishant Sharma have also spent a decent amount of time in England while playing for their respective County clubs.

Both Rahane and Vijay last played for India in the longer format against Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Bengaluru. While Rahane and Vijay would be gearing up for the Test series, captain Virat Kohli has given some hints about the selection of spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kuldeep has played two Tests for India while Chahal is yet to get the cap.

“Anything is possible with the selections for Tests and there might be a few surprises. Kuldeep is making a strong case for himself and so is Chahal. And looking at the way, the English batsmen have struggled against them, we might be tempted to do it,” said Kohli as quoted by Indian Express after India’s win in the first ODI of the three-match series.

Currently, India are playing the three-match ODI series that is levelled at 1-1 after the visitors lost the Lord’s encounter on Saturday. Both the teams would meet in the series decider at Headingley on Tuesday.