Mumbai, May 7: The Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli will be engaged in playing County Championship for Surrey County Cricket Club, and hence will be unavailable to play the symbolic test to be played in Bengaluru. Indian Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will step into shoes of skipper Virat Kohli against India’s one-off Test match against Afghanistan, next month if a TOI report is to be believed.

India is scheduled to play a Test match against Afghanistan, starting from June 14. The national selection committee is set to meet to select six different Indian team’s squads – One-off Test against Afghanistan; T20I squad for Ireland Tour; T20I & ODI squad for England Tour; India A squad for England Tour; India A Squad for tri-series, also involving West Indies A and England A.

In order to prepare for India’s long tenuous tour to England in next couple of months, Virat Kohli will be heading to England and join forces with Surrey Cricket Club for a county stint. However, he will join India when the team arrives in Ireland for the T20I series.

India will be on a long United Kingdom tour, where they are slated to play 2 T20Is against Ireland; 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs, and 5 Tests against England in England.

As per the report, Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik and a newbie Krunal Pandya will be amongst the list of cricketers who will be a part of the India ‘A’ team. As per a senior BCCI official, Pandya will be awarded for his current form (displayed in the IPL).

Karthik, who heroically rescued India and saw the team home during Nidahas Trophy, will be playing an important role in the team; whether he plays as a specialist wicket-keeper or as a batsman, is yet to be decided.

As for the Afghanistan Test squad, Indian team regulars Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Hardik Pandya are likely to feature in the team. There were reports that 8 Indians, earlier, that R Ashwin Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara among others who will be missing the Afghanistan Test, and depart for England for a long UK tour that will begin in July, this year!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2018 04:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).