Ahead of England’s tour of India, English selectors have named 15-member squad that sees former Captain Michael Vaughan being left out of the tour due to his poor recent form. Michael Vaughan’s axing has not come as a surprise as there were rumors like that around the corner following the batsmen’s recent poor form both in international and domestic cricket. However, Owais Shah’s selection and Ravi Bopara’s exclusion have come as a surprise to many. Even Owais Shah also said that he was not expecting a call up for the tour to India. England will tour India in December to play seven one-day internationals and two test matches. England selectors also announced a performance squad which will be in India during England’s tour to India.

Canadian Press reported:

Shah, who scored 88 and 38 in Mumbai in 2006, was drafted in to bolster the batting on Kevin Pietersen’s first overseas tour as captain, while Graeme Swann was preferred to Adil Rashid and Samit Patel to provide an extra spinning option alongside Monty Panesar.

“Our decision to pick Owais Shah was based on the fact that he is an excellent player of spin who played a superb innings in India on his test debut two years ago,” national selector Geoff Miller said. “It’s a further opportunity for him to build on his success with the one-day side this year.”

England selectors also made a surprise call up in Graeme Swann as the second spinner, overlooking the in-form spinners like Adil Rashid and Samit Patel. However, England’s spin attack will be spearheaded by left arm spinner Monty Panesar.

Here, I am giving the names of England’s 15-member test squad for India tour as well as performance squad from Cricinfo:

Test squad Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Ambrose (wk), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar

Performance squad Tim Bresnan, Mark Davies, Steven Davies, Joe Denly, Robbie Joseph, Rob Key, Amjad Khan, Sajid Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Stephen Moore, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Ollie Rayner, Jonathan Trott

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