N Jagadeesan, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper, has earned a maiden Test call up ahead of India's fifth and final Test against England starting on Thursday at The Oval. Jagadeesan replaces Rishabh Pant, who fractured his right foot while batting in the first innings in Old Trafford last week.
Jagadeesan, 29 is understood to have received his visa early on Sunday morning and will link up with the squad in London by Tuesday. He will be a back-up for Dhruv Jurel, who kept wickets in both the third and fourth Tests as a substitute to cover for Pant's injuries.
Jagadeesan has been on the fringes of the India A setup for a while. He has topped the run charts for two seasons back-to-back. In the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy, he made 816 runs in 13 innings at 74.18. He followed that with 674 runs in 13 innings at 56.16 in 2024-25. This included two hundreds and five half-centuries.
While Jagadeesan didn't make the India A cut for the shadow tour to England, he's been part of a wider pool of targeted players shortlisted by the BCCI's Centre of Excellence over the past 12 months. As a batter, he's also shown adaptability to play in different batting positions.
Jagadeesan has built a formidable domestic record since making his first-class debut in 2016. He averages 47.50 and has aggregated 3373 first-class runs in 79 innings, with 10 hundreds and 14 half-centuries, with a best of 321 against Chandigarh in January 2024.
He was most-recently in action earlier this month for Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, hitting a 41-ball 81 in his most-recent T20 innings on July 4. This will be Jagadeesan's second tour of the UK, after earlier having led a Tamil Nadu Colts team last year.