Jofra Archer misses out, Oille Robinson returns as England announce squad for India Tests

Fast bowler Jofra Archer was ruled out of the first two Tests against India as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a 17-member squad on Wednesday.

India and England are set to lock horns in a five-match Test series, starting August 4. It will be their first assignment of the underway 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) Cycle.

Vice-captain Ben Stokes also returned to the squad after missing out the two-match Test series against New Zealand in June due to a finger injury he suffered during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Following the COVID-19 in the English dressing room, the ECB had formed a new team, led by Stokes, earlier this month for a series against Pakistan. Stokes captained the new-look England team to 3-0 win over Pakistan and has since been rested to enhance his preparation ahead of the India Tests.

Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran also made a comeback into the Test squad and the ECB recalled Ollie Robinson, who recently was handed an eight-match ban for sexist and racist tweets.

Robinson, who kickstarted his England Test career by picking seven wickets and scoring a valuable 42 against New Zealand at Lord's in June, was withdrawn from the squad ahead of the second Test of that series at Edgbaston, following the emergence of historic tweets of a discriminatory nature. Along with the eight-match ban, the fast bowler was also fined £3200.

While Archer will take time to recover fully from his injury to his right elbow, all-rounder Chris Woakes is also unavailable for the first two Tests against India due to a bruised heel.

"Archer continues to progress following elbow surgery but is not ready at this point to return to Test cricket. Woakes suffered a bruised heel last week and is expected to be available later in the series," ECB said in an official release on Wednesday.

England's 17-member squad for the first two Tests against India:

Joe Root (c ), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Oille Pope, Oille Robinson, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood.