Like it happens in Bollywood movies, there wont be any major twists in India's squad for the upcoming Test tour of England, starting on June 20. Shubman Gill is all set to be named the Test captain after Rohit Sharma's retirement in the red-ball format. The youngster was already the vice-captain to the veteran batter in the ODI, is now set to get long term leadership in the longest format of the game.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to make an announcement on Saturday, May 24, when the national selection committee will meet in Mumbai. Barring one or two new faces, the rest of the squad will bear the same look as was the case during Team India's Test tour Down Under. Only Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli wont be in squad owing to their retirements.
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Sai Sudarshan & Karun Nair's supreme Ranji record could land them a place in the Test line-up
Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair are likely to be included in the Test squad, owing to their terrific performance in the domestic season. Nair scored 863 runs in nine Ranji Trophy games last year, and 779 runs in eight Vijay Hazare matches with five centuries. Meanwhile, Sudarshan, who is currently the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2025 season with more than 600 runs, is widely touted to be the next big thing in Indian cricket.
However, Sudarshan is unlikely to open against England, as KL Rahul is likely to replace Rohit at the top along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The GT opener could bat at number three, with Gill coming in at number four - the position Kohli used to bat in Tests for India.
No Mohammed Shami for England Tour
Another notable absentee is Mohammed Shami, who is ruled out. The pacers for the tour will be Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Harshit Rana, with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as the spinners. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur could be included as pace bowling all-rounders.
India Predicted Squad: Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Sai Sudharsan, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rishabh Pant, Druv Jurel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav.
