The Indian test squad for the England tour was announced on Saturday. The announcement was made by the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, and the BCCI official handle on May 24. Some major highlights from the squad announcement were naming Shubman Gill the captain for India’s England tour in 2025 along with the debut of two young players in the red ball cricket.
Announcement of Indian Test squad for the England tour
The announcement of the 18-member squad for the five-match English tour was made by the official handle of the Board of Cricket Council of India (BCCI). The squad announced, will have Shubman Gill as the captain along with Rishabh Pant as the vice-captain. This is the first time Shubman Gill has been given the captaincy in the Test cricket format.
Also, Karun Nair has been recalled to the Test cricket team after nearly eight years since he played the format in 2017. He has shown great performance in domestic cricket.
The 18-member squad is as follows: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.
Key highlights from the announcement
Shubman Gill— The Captain
After Rohit’s retirement, the position for captaincy was up for filling, and the board has decided to put faith in Shubman Gill. Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector, said that although he is young, they are hopeful that Gill would lead the team well; they have seen him improving through the years. He has captained for GT in IPL, Although its a different format, many players have given positive feedback about him. So they are willing to invest on him, keeping in mind the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC).
When asked about Bumrah and why he wasn’t given the captaincy, Agarkar said that he might not be available for all five matches due to some medical concerns. He also added that they want Bumrah to focus solely on his bowling and not be burdened with the extra stress of captaincy
The Debutants
Sai Sudarsahn and Abhimanyu Easwaran are debuting in the red ball cricket with this series, they might be seen playing as openers alongside Shubman or Yashashvi. for now, they are picked up as reserves.
When Sudharshan was asked how he is feeling about the selection for the England tour. He expressed great excitement and a good opportunity but right now he is more focused on how to take his team to the Qualifier 1 of the IPL.
The schedule for the matches
BCCI has released the schedule for the matches, which will be played in June. The first match will be played from 20 June to 24 June in Leeds. The successive matches will be played on 2nd July, 10th July, 23rd July, and 30th July on different grounds at Birmingham, Lords and Manchester.
The telecast of these matches in India will start at 3:30 PM IST.
India v/s England: the Rivalry
India and England have a strong cricket rivalry which has grown ever since they started playing together. This battle like the India v/s Australia is awaited by the cricket fans in both the countries
The last Test match between India and England was played two years back when the English were on a tour to India; India won the series by 4-1. Great performers in that series were Virat Kohli, Mohd Shami, and Yashashvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal, who scored 700+ runs, came out as a star performer, and now he is again picked, with the hopes of seeing another round of Yashshvi-dominated series.
If we look at the overall records, India and England have played nearly 136 matches, out of which England leads the rivalry by 51 wins, and India has 35 wins. while the other matches have resulted in draws.
The missing favorites left the fans heartbroken
Although many former players have returned to the new squad, some are still missing, and fans are disappointed with that, but the board could not have done anything about that.
Fans are still recovering from the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin, who used to be the star players in these test matches. It’s still hard for them to fully get out of the nostalgia.
Mohd Shami wont be a part of this tour either; due to medical concerns, he has been declared unfit for the tour
Although a bit sad, fans are full of excitement and rooting for India to win the series.
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