ENG vs IND: 4 Indian cricketers who didn't get a spot in playing XI in the entire test series

England won the toss and elected to bowl first in the fifth ENG vs IND test in London.

The fifth ENG vs IND test began with both teams making four changes each to their lineups. Ollie Pope is leading England in the absence of injured Ben Stokes. He won the toss to put India to bat first under overcast conditions.

This is the final test of the series which the hosts are currently leading by 2-1. After some injury concerns, India made some changes to their original squad for the last two games, and a few Indians also made their test debut in the ongoing series.

However, there have been a few unlucky stars who warmed the bench in the tour and didn’t get a chance to feature even in a single test. On that note, let’s take a look at four Indian cricketers who didn’t get a spot in the playing XI in the entire England test tour.

ENG vs IND: 4 Indian cricketers who didn’t get an opportunity to play in the entire test series

1. Abhimanyu Easwaran

Abhimanyu Easwaran is not a new name anymore. He has been part of the Indian test squad consistently in the last year or so. He was even part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 in Australia. But, despite his consistent domestic performances, he was sidelined from the playing XI.

Easwaran has played 103 First Class (FC) cricket games and has scored 7841 runs with 27 centuries and 31 half-centuries. India gave chances to Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan, and not even a single match was given to Easwaran, which also raised questions among the Indian fans.

2. Kuldeep Yadav

The biggest name to miss the action in the ENG vs IND test series is Kuldeep Yadav. After the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, India need a wicket-taking spinner, and Kuldeep ticks all the boxes. He is someone who can extract turn in different surfaces.

Being a wrist spinner, he also gets more purchase from the pitch. However, he only warmed the bench in all five games. Kuldeep has a bowling average of 22.16 in test cricket, which is the second-best among Indian bowlers in the current squad and the best among all spinners.

3. Arshdeep Singh

Arshdeep Singh was one of the exciting names that were picked for the test tour of England. After his success in T20Is for India, he earned a place in the test squad. But, he was unfortunate not to get a chance. Anshul Kamboj made his debut, while Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, and Shardul Thakur got repeated chances despite failing to deliver.

Overall, India tried six pacers in the series, but Arshdeep, who is the only left-arm pacer in the current squad, wasn’t picked. Arshdeep could have been more lethal against England, as they have five right-handers in the top seven, and he is also quite good at swinging the ball both ways.

4. Narayan Jagadeesan

The Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batter Narayan Jagadeesan was added to the Indian side for the final test after Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the game due to a toe fracture. India already had Dhruv Jurel in their original squad as backup wicket-keeper, who was picked in the playing XI for the final test.

That means Jagadeesan will leave England without a game. He is a pretty handy keeper and a versatile batter who can bat anywhere in the batting order as required. Jagadeesan has an experience of 52 FC games and has 3373 runs with ten centuries to his name.

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