England in India: The hosts select four players but Mohammed Shami remains out of the list

Seamer Mohammed Shami was not included in India's squad to play the first two Tests against England as he recovers from an ankle injury.

In his absence, India picked four spinners – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav.

Uncapped duo Avesh Khan and Dhruv Gurel are also in the 16-man squad.

Seamer Avesh has played eight one-day internationals and 19 T20s for India while Dhurel has not played in all formats.

He will compete for the gloves with KL Rahul, who retained India's last drawn series against South Africa, and KS Bharat.

India have not lost a home Test series since England's win in 2012.

England have selected the duo Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley, as well as the fast Gus Atkinson in their squad.

The first of the five Tests begins on January 25 in Hyderabad.

The second Test begins on February 2 in Visakhapatnam before matches in Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala.

India's lineup for the first two Tests: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Gurriel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Lamp. , Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice captain), Avish Khan.