India’s selectors have picked a 20-man squad
Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will get an early chance to acclimatise to English conditions after being named in a strong India A squad.
Jaiswal, who has scored two double hundreds against England, will feature in both four-day matches against England Lions starting on May 30 and June 6.
Gill, seen as a frontrunner to succeed Rohit Sharma as Test captain, will join for the second match at Northampton.
India’s selectors have picked a 20-man squad featuring nine players with Test experience.
Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacers Akash Deep and Harshit Rana are among them. All four played in India’s last Test series in Australia.
Sarfaraz Khan, who impressed with three fifties in his debut series against England in 2024, is also included.
He is joined by Shardul Thakur, attacking left-hander Ishan Kishan and middle-order batter Karun Nair.
Nair’s selection marks a possible comeback. He famously scored 303 not out against England in 2016 but was dropped after just six Tests. He has since played county cricket for Northamptonshire and is pushing for a return.
Left-hander Sai Sudharsan, who scored 509 runs in 11 IPL matches for Gujarat Titans, is tipped for a debut.
The five-Test series begins on June 20 at Headingley.
It will be India’s first without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have both retired from Test cricket.
Shubman Gill has struggled in English conditions, scoring just 88 runs from three matches at an average of 14.66. His most recent outing was the World Test Championship final loss to Australia in 2023.
Gill is seen as the frontrunner to be India’s Test captain, with ex-Head Coach Ravi Shastri saying he has “all the qualities” to lead the side.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has enjoyed a strong start to his red-ball career, averaging 52.88 in 19 Tests.
However, his only experience of English pitches came during an under-19 tour in 2019.
England’s preparation for the series is limited. They will play a one-off Test against Zimbabwe starting on May 22.
India A squad:
- Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Karun Nair
- Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain) (wicketkeeper)
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Shardul Thakur
- Ishan Kishan (WK)
- Manav Suthar
- Tanush Kotian
- Mukesh Kumar
- Akash Deep
- Harshit Rana
- Anshul Kamboj
- Khaleel Ahmed
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
- Sarfaraz Khan
- Tushar Deshpande
- Harsh Dubey
- Shubman Gill (second match only)
- Sai Sudharsan (second match only)
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