Wicketkeeper batter Kishan asked to be excused from the two-match series in South Africa in December, citing personal reasons, and was not considered for the 16-man squad for the first two of five tests against England beginning on January 25 in Hyderabad.

Fast bowler Shami is recovering from an ankle injury. Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel (22) has received his first international call-up.

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav also returned to the squad to bolster India's spin attack while paceman Prasidh Krishna was dropped due to injury.

Squad for first two tests v England:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan