India test squad for England tour 2025: 5 biggest talking points

India test squad for England tour was announced on Saturday, May 24.

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is about to reach its business end, the attention is slowly moving towards international cricket. After the tournament concludes, it will be time for the much anticipated five-match test series between England and India, which will be part of the ICC World Test Championship (2025-27) cycle. 

The test series between England and India will kick start on 20th June at the Headingley in Leeds and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are making sure that they do all the background work before the series. The national selectors on Saturday, May 24, announced the squad, and now it’ll be up to the players to execute their plans. 

With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli calling time on their career, the selectors have announced a relatively inexperienced team. A new captain and vice-captain were announced, and there were some new additions and a few omissions as well. Hence, in this article, we will take a look at the five biggest talking points. 

Top five biggest talking points from India test squad for England test tour:

1. Shubman Gill named as the new India test captain 

With the place of the India test captain vacant, young batter Shubman Gill was named as the skipper. The right-hander got the nod ahead of Jasprit Bumrah, who didn’t get the role due to workload management. Gill, who’s touted as the future of Indian cricket, will have great shoes to fill and probably will face the toughest challenge in his first assignment. 

Shubman Gill will be captaining the inexperienced team, and hence, to prove his prowess, he needs to lead from the front. India haven’t won a test series in England for a long time, and it will be a great opportunity for the young batter to script history and etch his name in the record books. 

2. Rishabh Pant appointed as the vice-captain of an Indian test team 

Rishabh Pant, who was one of the players in contention to captain India in tests, was appointed as the deputy of Shubman Gill. The keeper-batter has been the team’s best batter in format for the last few years, and it was only because of that he was included in the leadership group. The upcoming England series will be extremely crucial for him as well, and he will have a point to prove after having a horrible campaign in IPL 2025.

3. Mohammed Shami and Sarfaraz Khan dropped 

One of the biggest talking points of the Indian squad for the England test tour was the omission of Mohammed Shami. The veteran fast bowler was left out of the team due to fitness issues. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar mentioned that the fast bowler isn’t fit to play all five games, and the medical team has ruled him out. 

Another notable snub from the team was of Sarfaraz Khan. The Mumbai batter, who was part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, failed to make the cut into the team for the England series. Agarkar mentioned that the young batter didn’t score runs after a hundred against New Zealand, and hence, they had to take the call. 

4. Karun Nair getting a call-up after eight long years 

The Indian squad for the England tests also saw Karun Nair making a comeback into the team after eight long years. The middle-order batter, who holds record of a hitting a triple ton, was dropped from the team after 2016 despite his heroics. However, after that, he couldn’t make a big impact in the domestic circuit and failed to reclaim his place. 

But, since last year, Karun Nair has been in golden form and has scored truckloads of runs for Vidarbha, which forced the selectors to pick him again. The right-hander was the leading run-getter for his team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, and also slammed 863 runs from nine matches at an average of 54 in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 to go with four tons and two fifties. 

5. Arshdeep Singh and Sai Sudharsan getting maiden call-up in test 

The BCCI also included two fresh faces in the test setup for the England series. Punjab pacer Arshdeep Singh and Tamil Nadu batter Sai Sudharsan have also been included in the side for the five-match series. Both the players have experience of playing county cricket in England and hence are likely to play a key role. 

Arshdeep Singh has been a proven match-winner for India in white-ball cricket, especially T20Is. He would be aiming to replicate the same success in red-ball cricket as well. While Sai Sudharsan has been scoring runs consistently at all the domestic levels. He is also the leading run-getter in the ongoing IPL 2025 and also has a decent First Class (FC) record, scoring 1957 runs in 29 games at an average of around 40.

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