India squad for England Test Highlights: Gill favourite to lead; Kamboj, Nair and Thakur likely to play for India A

This will include players who are part of the ongoing Indian Premier League season, but whose franchises are not in the picture for the playoffs. The schedule for the India A-England Lions tour games remains unchanged with the first four-day match getting underway on 30 May.

And those whose teams are in contention for the playoffs will fly out at a later date and will be considered for the second unofficial Test.

According to The Indian Express, the Haryana and Chennai Super Kings pacer, who had represented Mumbai Indians last year, is likely to be included in the India A squad for the upcoming tour of England.

Kamboj has collected 74 First-Class wickets at an average of 22.66 and had recently made headlines for becoming only the third bowler in the history of Ranji Trophy to collect all 10 wickets in an innings during the home game against Kerala.

Reddy got his Test career off to a dream start in Australia, playing all five matches in that series and even scoring a memorable century in the ‘Boxing Day Test’ at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. However, his selection in the playing XI will depend on the balance of the team.

Given he had collected just five wickets after bowling 44 overs across the five Tests against Australia, Reddy’s selection will happen if the team management intends to shore up their batting department. If they need more support in the bowling department, someone like Shardul Thakur – who is more of a bowling all-rounder – is likely to be considered.

Senior Indian pacer Mohammed Shami, who had only recently returned to action after sitting out for an entire year due to an ankle surgery, slammed a report carried by an Indian news website that speculated that he could be joining Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in bidding Test cricket goodbye.

Though he was among the top wicket-takers in the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year, Shami’s form has dipped drastically in the ongoing IPL season and reports suggest he doesn’t hold an automatic spot in the Test team anymore.

Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond had warned the Indian team management against including Jasprit Bumrah in the XI for more than two consecutive Tests keeping in mind his recent back injury which had ruled him out of cricketing action for three months.

“They may say, look, it’s four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he’s fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats.

“So that’s hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I’m not sure you can have surgery on that spot again,” Bond, who had previously worked with Bumrah as Mumbai Indians bowling coach, said recently.

Wicketkeeper-batter Kishan has made two Test appearances till date – both during the tour of West Indies in 2023, in which he scored 78 runs in three outings which included an unbeaten 52 off 34 balls – which came while batting at the No 4 slot.

Kishan, thus, could be in the picture as far as India’s next Test No 4, although he’ll face stiff competition from Shreyas Iyer as well as domestic stars such as Sarfaraz Khan. Additionally, Kishan might be asked to play India A’s tour games against England Lions before being considered for the Test series.

With Indian superstars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their Test retirements in less than a week recently, the selectors and team management will have to take a call on their replacements sooner rather than later.

KL Rahul had opened alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia and he is a front-runner to perform that role once again, now that Rohit is retired. As for succeeding Kohli at the No 4 spot, Shreyas Iyer might just be considered. Coach Gautam Gambhir and the next captain could also be looking at someone like domestic giant Sarfaraz Khan.

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has reportedly finalised the India A squad, and will be making minor changes depending on the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League – in which the final has been pushed from 25 May to 3 June due to the military showdown between India and Pakistan.

The board might take some more time to announce India’s squad, keeping an eye on potential injuries or fitness concerns that might arise in the remaining IPL matches.

The five-match Test series between India and England, which will get the 2025-27 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship underway, takes place between 20 June and 4 August this summer, with Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester) and The Oval (London) hosting the five matches.

Additionally, some of the senior players could leave earlier than the rest of the squad to represent India A in the three tour matches that they will be playing against England Lions that will take place before the Test series gets underway.

With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their retirement from Test cricket in the span of a week, the Indian cricket team will begin a new era in the five-match Test series against England that gets underway next month.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah was widely expected to lead the side on a full-time basis, having captained the team to a 295-run victory in the first Test against Australia in Perth in November, but his recent back injury and concerns over workload management might force the BCCI and the Indian team management to look elsewhere.

Top-order batter Shubman Gill, who is doing a fine job with Gujarat Titans in the IPL and is also an integral part of the Test batting lineup, has thus emerged a front-runner. Other options include Rishabh Pant, who remains the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter for Tests even as his white-ball fortunes have dried up in recent months, as well as KL Rahul.