Meanwhile, pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested for the series, while opener Shikhar Dhawan has been dropped.

"Taking stock of the recent workload, the selectors have decided to rest Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar," the BCCI said in a statement.

"Both Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not considered for selection as they are yet to recover from their injuries," it added.

The first Test will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot between October 4-9 followed by the second one at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from October 12.

The squad:

Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur