India squad for England Tests Highlights: BCCI unveils India A squad for England tour, Gill and Sudharsan to join before 2nd match

1st First-Class Match
Date: May 30 (Friday) – June 2 (Monday), 2025
Time: 10:00 AM (local time)
Venue: Canterbury
Opponent: England Lions

2nd First-Class Match
Date: June 6 (Friday) – June 9 (Monday), 2025
Time: 10:00 AM (local time)
Venue: Northampton
Opponent: England Lions

Intra-Squad Match
Date: June 13 (Friday) – June 16 (Monday), 2025
Time: 10:00 AM (local time)
Venue: Beckenham
Match: India A vs Team India (Senior Men)

The BCCI on Friday announced the India A squad for the tour of England, where the team will play two first-class matches against the England Lions at Canterbury and Northampton. The tour will conclude with a match against Team India (Senior Men).

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Available:

• Jos Buttler (until league stage ends)
• Kusal Mendis (replaces Buttler for playoffs)
• Sherfane Rutherford
• Kagiso Rabada (until league stage ends)
• Rashid Khan
• Karim Janat
• Dasun Shanaka
• Gerald Coetzee

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Available:

• Romario Shepherd
• Phil Salt
• Jacob Bethell (only for two league games)
• Tim David
• Liam Livingstone
• Lungi Ngidi (until league stage ends)
• Nuwan Thushara

Uncertain:

• Josh Hazlewood

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Available:

• Mitchell Owen
• Azmatullah Omarzai
• Marco Jansen (until league stage ends)
• Xavier Bartlett
• Kyle Jamieson (replacement for injured Lockie Ferguson)

Uncertain:

• Josh Inglis
• Marcus Stoinis
• Aaron Hardie

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Available:

• Will Jacks (until league stage ends)
• Jonny Bairstow (replaces Jacks for playoffs)
• Ryan Rickelton (until league stage ends)
• Richard Gleeson (replaces Rickelton for playoffs)
• Bevon Jacobs
• Corbin Bosch (until league stage ends)
• Mitchell Santner
• Trent Boult
• Reece Topley
• Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Available:

• Tristan Stubbs (until league stage ends)
• Faf du Plessis
• Dushmantha Chameera
• Sediqullah Atal
• Mustafizur Rahman (replaces Jake Fraser-McGurk; available May 18–24)

Not Available:

• Mitchell Starc
• Jake Fraser-McGurk
• Donovan Ferreira

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Available:

• Sunil Narine
• Andre Russell
• Quinton de Kock
• Spencer Johnson
• Rahmanullah Gurbaz
• Anrich Nortje

Not Available:

• Moeen Ali
• Rovman Powell

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Available:

• Aiden Markram (until league stage ends)
• Mitchell Marsh
• Nicholas Pooran
• David Miller
• Matthew Breetzke
• Will O’Rourke (replacement for injured Mayank Yadav)

Not Available:

• Shamar Joseph

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Available:

• Pat Cummins
• Travis Head
• Heinrich Klaasen
• Kamindu Mendis
• Eshan Malinga

Not Available:

• Wiaan Mulder

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Available:

• Shimron Hetmyer
• Lhuan-dre Pretorius
• Fazalhaq Farooqi
• Kwena Maphaka
• Wanindu Hasaranga
• Maheesh Theekshana

Not Available:

• Jofra Archer
• Nandre Burger

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Available:

• Noor Ahmad
• Matheesha Pathirana
• Dewald Brevis
• Devon Conway

Not Available:

• Jamie Overton
• Sam Curran
• Rachin Ravindra
• Nathan Ellis

1st Test: June 20-24 at Headingley, Leeds.

2nd Test: July 2-6 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

3rd Test: July 10-14 at Lord’s, London

4th Test: July 23-27 at Old Trafford, Manchester

5th Test: July 31-August 4 at The Oval, London

He picked: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal/Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami/Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

Do you agree with Aakash Chopra’s picks?

“Like every decision in life (and sport), there will be pros and cons, and losing Bumrah to injury for a really long time – because he has to play almost every Test as captain, with a quirky action that is meant to induce breakdowns – is easily the biggest drawback. Not to mention that India hardly ever think of bowlers as captains. Let alone fast bowlers.

But Bumrah has always been the anomaly. The aberration. Ever since he first bowled a ball in international cricket. An outlier who cannot be described adequately or properly enough, and remains beyond fabrication, forgery and imitation. The happy exception that a nation of a billion (and other cricket purists) would want to become a norm, but are resigned to it never happening again.

And in a country that is as enterprising a pace-bowling factory as any currently, it would feel a travesty if THE Indian pacer of this generation, and probably of any generation previously, is not given his chance in the sun as skipper.”

Shashwat Kumar writes on why Bumrah must become India’s next Test captain. (READ HERE)

A PTI report has claimed that some of the higher-ups in BCCI were not happy with the plan to promote Shubman Gill as India’s next Test captain but coach Gautam Gambhir has taken all of them in confidence. He even held a meeting with Gill a few days back.

“Head coach Gautam Gabhir’s presence in Mumbai, for offering puja at the Siddhivinayak Temple, had the rumour mills working overtime that Shubman Gill is still not a done deal for the leadership role. With the new captain-in-waiting having an extended meeting with the head coach in the national capital a few days back, there is little chance for the selectors or Gambhir to retract from their original stand. There were rumours that influential people running Indian cricket aren’t exactly happy with Gill’s sudden elevation but it would be completely foolhardy to believe that those powerful men weren’t taken into confidence before the Punjab batter was zeroed in as the next Test leader,” the PTI report read.

India have played just one Test in the four-and-a-half months that have passed so far in 2025 – the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney which they ended up losing by six wickets to surrender the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in nearly a decade.

Team India are scheduled to play nine more Tests this year. More than half of those will be played in the five-match series in England, which will get the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle underway. India will play two each against West Indies (October) and South Africa (November) later this year, both assignments taking place on home soil.

Senior pacer Mohammed Shami slammed a report which suggested he might follow Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in retiring from the Test format.

“Very well done maharaj apna job k din bhi gin loo kitna adieu hai badme dekh le hamara ap jaise ne satyiyanash kar diya future ka kabi to accha bol liya kare aaj ka sabse kharab story sorry (sic) (Very well done, King. Look at your job, too, first and see how many days are left before focusing on me. Guys like you have destroyed my future. At least try to speak good things, sometimes. This is today’s worst story, I am sorry.),” Shami wrote in a ‘Story’ shared on Instagram recently in response to a report published on an Indian news website.

Before Jaiswal began his Test career with a bang during the 2023 tour of West Indies, Gill had cemented himself as a first-choice Test opener alongside Rohit, only to drop to the No 3 spot after the Indian team management and the BCCI chose to move on from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

The Indian team management might be tempted to bring Gill back as Jaiswal’s opening partner following Rohit’s retirement. However, the No 3 spot carries a legacy of its own that rivals that of the No 4 position, with icons such as Rahul Dravid and Pujara having occupied that slot over the years. And Gill certainly is a lot more qualified for that position than a newcomer.

Iyer is an integral part of the ODI team and has also made quite the impact in the T20 format, especially as captain in the Indian Premier League. The Mumbaikar, however, isn’t a guaranteed starter in the Test format, where he has made 14 appearances since making his debut against New Zealand at home in late 2021.

With Virat Kohli having called time on his career, will the Indian team management look at him as the next Test No 4?

R Ashwin feels Jasprit Bumrah is the right candidate to be India’s next Test captain and not Shubman Gill. “I am very, very upset and disappointed that Jasprit Bumrah will not get the captaincy (of India). I think he is a national treasure,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.

“I was so happy when he became the captain, but I think it’s out of the window,” Ashwin further said.

This is confirmation that Gambhir is in Mumbai where he will be holding discussion with the BCCI selectors over the next Team India captain for Tests.

A special tribute to a special player!

The ICC has revealed that the winner will get USD 3.6 million prize money while the runners-up will earn USD 2.16 million. The prize money in the 2021 and 2023 finals was USD 2 million.

“The champions will walk away with USD 3.6 million, a significant jump from the USD 1.6 million awarded in both 2021 and 2023 while the runners-up will earn USD 2.16 million, up from USD 800,000,” an ICC statement said.

India will earn USD 1.44 million (Rs 12.31 crore) for finishing third in the standings.

Kohli is on his way to Bengalujru for IPL 2025. RCB play KKR on 17 May at the Chinnaswamy.