England announce squad for India series – Archer and Stokes return

Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer have returned to the England squad for the series next month against India as England make a number of changes for the four-match series.

The pair were rested against Sri Lanka and come back in, as does Rory Burns who was on  paternity leave but there is no place for Ollie Pope who continues to recover from a shoulder injury.

Sam Curran, Mark Wood and Jonny Bairstow have all been rested for the first two matches of the tour to India in Chennai.

The reasoning behind only naming a squad for the first two matches is because captain Joe Root and the coaching staff plan to rotate a number of players in the series with a hectic schedule approaching this year.

Root has spoken to BBC Sport after England named the squad for the first two matches against India.

“It’s a huge year of Test cricket and also a World Cup, a lot of one-day cricket alongside. We’re going to have to look after players, with the climate and environment we’re in, resting players is going to be vital.

On England’s last visit to India, they were heavily beaten 4-0 in Sir Alistair Cook’s final Test Match series as captain.

England squad for the first two matches – Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer , Moeen Ali , James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns , Jos Buttler , Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes , Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes

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