The England selectors have retained Alastair Cook as skipper, while Joe Buttler replaced Matt Prior in a 13-member squad for the third Test match against India, starting 27 July in Southampton.
After England's 95-run loss against India in the second Test match, Cook had said that he is not ready to relinquish his captaincy role. Although many former players, including Michael Vaughan, urged the selectors to rest the southpaw, the selectors have decided to stick with their skipper.
Coach Peter Moores has also shown confidenve in Cook and insisted that he will take England out from their recent slump.
"The question is 'can he be the captain who can take the team forward in the long term?'," Moores said. "Can he be that man? In my opinion, yes, and so I'm going to support him through that."
Meanwhile, Prior, is the expected omission along with spinner Simon Kerrigan from the last match. Prior decided to step down from the team due to injury concerns.
He made a fifty in the series opener but failed with the bat at Lord's. But, more than that his wicketkeeping has been under scrutiny, after he equalled the record of conceding the most number of byes for England in an innings.
"I'm not doing justice to myself and more importantly the team and that is what matters first and foremost," Prior said. "I tore my quad before the first Test and my right hand has been beaten to a pulp, but the main issue is the Achilles."
England national selector James Whitaker said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will continue to monitor Prior's condition in the coming months.
"Matt Prior has contributed a huge amount to the England side over the years and should be proud of his record throughout his 79 Tests," Whitaker said. "He has decided to take time out of the game to work on his fitness, and we will continue to follow his progress over the coming months."
Buttler will replace Prior behind the stumps in the third Test and will also provide skipper Cook with another potent batting option. He is in decent form with the bat, scoring one century and five fifties at an average of 33.32 for Lancashire this season.
The Lancashire gloveman also performed quite well for England in the limited-overs format, as he struck the fastest ODI ton by an Englishman against Sri Lanka in May.
"Congratulations to Jos Buttler who comes into the squad following some very exciting limited overs performances for England and a good record with Lancashire this season and fully deserves this opportunity," Whitaker said.
England squad: Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Sam Robson, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.
