England captain Ben Stokes and uncapped trio Gus Atkinson, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir have been selected for England's test match series against India, which starts in January.

Stokes, who had surgery on his left knee just two weeks, is expected to be ready for the series opener in Hyderabad on 25 January, but it has been confirmed that he will not be able to bowl.

Bashir's inclusion is a bit of a curveball as the 20-year-old spinner has only taken 10 first-class wickets at an average of 67 for Somerset since making his debut just six months ago. 

On the other hand Atkinson and Hartley were expected to make the cut, given that they have been representing England in the white ball formats this year.

England made a selection similar to Bashir just 12 months ago, when they took then 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed to Pakistan and he went on to claim a five wicket haul on debut.

England's director of men's cricket Rob Key insists that investing in promising young individuals is the correct course going forward, especially in a discipline that is under-served by the domestic game.

"Life is always about how good someone's good is, not how bad their bad is," he said.

"He's very raw – he's going for experience as much as anyone else, albeit we won't be afraid to play him if required. This is the start of his journey, where we will hopefully see a world-class spinner in the future.

"He's got one of the higher release points in the game, he just looks like everything that you see in a classical off-spinner: a bit of real craft, a bit of real guile and a decent character as well.

"It can be different if you're bowling at Virat Kohli out in India in front of 50,000 people but we feel like his character is very solid and he looks like his ceiling is very high.

"It's very hard, especially for spinners in English cricket to judge them on their numbers as such. You're not going to expect your spinner to average 24 with the ball in county cricket, you're trying to see something else and back their character. You want to see how the ball comes out of their hand and make those judgements. You're going more to the art of selection, rather than the science of selection."

England may need to continue thinking creatively when it comes to balancing their XI in India, with Key admitting there is next to no chance of captain Stokes being able to bowl so soon after surgery on a longstanding left-knee issue.

Stokes is currently recovering and, while hopes are high he will be ready for the first Test on January 25 in Hyderabad, it will be as a specialist batter.

"The surgery has been a success and we expect him to be fit but we are not expecting him to be able to bowl at that point," said Key.

"We never had him down to be bowling in India. We won't try to rush through it. It does make it trickier but, as long as you know that, you can come up with a plan."

Senior spinner Jack Leach is fit again after a stress fracture of the back saw him miss last summer's Ashes series, but Chris Woakes drops out following his player-of-the-series efforts against Australia and may have played his last overseas Test.

Hartley, a tall left-armer who England feel can cause problems by spearing the ball quickly into the pitch, has effectively been selected over the more experienced Liam Dawson.

The Hampshire veteran was touted for a possible return after an excellent domestic season but has been left to pursue franchise opportunities. Will Jacks, the big-hitting Surrey all-rounder currently on England white-ball duty in the Caribbean, has also been left out and will take up T20 deals over the winter.

Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes travels despite losing the gloves to Jonny Bairstow against Australia and could be a strong candidate to break back into the first choice XI given the importance of the role in the sub-continent.

With Stuart Broad retired, there are four fast bowlers chosen: James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and Atkinson.

England squad for Test tour of India: B Stokes (c), R Ahmed, J Anderson, G Atkinson, J Bairstow (wkt), S Bashir, H Brook, Z Crawley, B Duckett, B Foakes (wkt), T Hartley, J Leach, O Pope, O Robinson, J Root, M Wood.