England pick Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan for third Test against India

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced their 15-man squad for the third Test match against India.

England have picked Saqib Mahmood and Dawid Malan in the squad whereas they have dropped Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley from the team.

Sibley will return to Warwickshire after averaging 19.77 in 10 Test matches in 2021 whereas Crawley will go back to Kent to regain his confidence. Jack Leach has also been dropped and he will join Somerset after Moeen Ali was recalled to the team for the Lord’s Test.

Meanwhile, Dawid Malan has been included in the Test squad after a good run of form in the white-ball format. Malan is the no.1 T20I batsman and he has consistently delivered in the shortest format of the game. However, the left-hander had last played Test cricket back in 2018 against India and was dropped after a poor run of form.

“Dawid Malan deserves his opportunity in the Test arena,” England head coach Chris Silverwood said in a statement. “He has a lot of experience across all formats and, if called upon, I am confident that he can come and do well on his home ground. In the limited time he has played first-class cricket this season, he has shown what he is capable of, scoring a highly accomplished 199 for Yorkshire against Sussex at Headingley in June.”

“Zak Crawley will return to Kent to galvanise the excellent work he did last week in the nets at Lord’s with assistant coach Graham Thorpe,” Silverwood said. “Zak is still a massive part of our plans moving forward, but we feel he would benefit from time outside the pressure of international competition to get some time working on his skills. He has a bright future and I do not doubt that his time will come again in the Test arena.

“Dom Sibley needs some time away to regain his confidence after a challenging period. He will return to Warwickshire to spend time in the middle without the scrutiny and find some rhythm and confidence. Dom offers a lot of value to the Test environment and some time away should help him. However, he remains part of our plans.”

Mark Wood has been included in the Test squad despite injuring his shoulder in the second Test match at Lord’s. England lost the second Test by 151 runs and the hosts will aim to make a solid comeback in the third Test at Headingley.

England squad for third Test vs India: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood.