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The men's selection committee on June 17 added another pacer in the Test squad. For the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, young pacer Harshit Rana was asked to stay back as he became the 19th member of the squad. A day after, pacer Mukesh Kumar shared a cryptic post on his Instagram story about 'Karma'.
"Karma bides its time. You will always have to watch out. Karma is unforgiving and always gets payback," Mukesh wrote.
It is unclear whether Mukesh wrote it because of the Test snub or something else.
Mukesh was recently in England, representing India A against England Lions. He did not strike with the new ball. Later, he got the wickets of Max Holden, captain James Rew and Rehan Ahmed. He bowled 25 overs, including five maidens and conceded 92 runs.
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Mukesh has not played a Test since February 2024. Against England at Vizag, he took one wicket. Later, he was not included in squads for home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. He was not picked for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 on Australian soil either. So far, Mukesh has played only three Tests and claimed seven wickets at an average of 25.57.
How Mukesh's replacement has fared
Akash Deep has been selected ahead of Mukesh of late. Deep has played seven Tests and claimed 15 wickets at an average of 35.20.
Rana head of Mukesh and Kamboj
Rana was selected ahead of Mukesh and Anshul Kamboj. Rana got just one wicket in the game against England Lions. On the other hand, Kamboj impressed many with his pace. Kamboj claimed five wickets from two games against England Lions.
India’s updated squad for first Test against England -
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana
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