Ravi Shastri names his Indian playing XI for the first test against England; picks this player to bat at four

Ravi Shastri chose KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers for India in his playing XI.

Cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri picked his playing XI of the Indian Cricket Team for the first test against the England Cricket Team. Under new skipper Shubman Gill, the Indian Team will lock horns with the Ben Stokes-led side in five tests during the tour, starting with the opening game at Headingley, Leeds on June 20-24.

England have announced their squad for the first test under skipper Ben Stokes. Notably, the home team will be short of three key pacers in the opening encounter. Mark Wood will miss at least the first three games of the series. Jofra Archer will be absent from the Headingley test due to a thumb injury, but might make a comeback in the second game. Gus Atkinson is recovering from a hamstring injury.

India’s tour of England 2025 will conclude with the fifth test at The Oval in London, scheduled to be played from July 31 to August 4. Notably, this is the first bilateral series for both teams in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27.

Ravi Shastri picks KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers

While speaking on the show The ICC Review, former India head coach Shastri revealed his playing XI of India for the Headingley test. The former Indian cricketer chose KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers and kept Shubman Gill at the four. He also backed Sai Sudharsan to do well at the one-down position.

“It would be (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, and with him will be KL Rahul, because I think this is a big tour for him. He’s the most experienced of the batsmen. He opened last time when India toured England, got a hundred, (and) had a good tour. So I would hope for him to open the innings”, he said.

“Three, I’ll go with the youngster, Sai Sudarshan. Whatever I’ve seen of him, he’s very impressive. This will be good exposure for him, this tour,” he further added.

In the bowling department, Shastri went ahead with Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah and chose Shardul Thakur as the fourth seam option. However, he also kept Nitish Kumar Reddy as a good replacement option for Thakur.

“I would go with three fast bowlers, (and) Shardul Thakur. I know it’ll be a tough one between Shardul and Nitish Reddy, but you have to see who bowls how much. If Reddy is going to give you 12, 14 overs, then he might get the nod because of his batting,” he said.

“And the three fast bowlers would be, I would go with Prasidh Krishna, I would go with Mohammed Siraj and of course Jasprit Bumrah,” the 63-year-old added.

Ravi Shastri’s playing XI for first test: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Nitish Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna.

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