Good morning! It's Saturday and cricket fans in India and across the world are holding their breath as to will be the new Test captain for the upcoming five-match series to England. The BCCI is expected to name the Test squad for the England Test series on Saturday along with the new Test captain.
According to the BCCI, the Indian squad for the tour of England will be announced at 1:30 PM IST.
Early reports say that Shubman Gill will be the skipper, which first-choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant wil likely continue as vice-captain, despite his poor showing at IPL 2025.
As per news reports, the Indian squad for the England series will have 17 players. With both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring, the opening pair will likely be KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, while Shubman Gill will come in at number 3.
The middle order is a bit unclear, as Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Sai Sudharsan and others are all in reckoning.
Similarly, the pace bowling unit is also far from ideal, as both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami recently returning from injuries. Kuldeep Yadav will most likely be the lead spinner, along with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.
Before the India squad, let's have a look at the India A squad that has been announced for the shadow tour before the actual series begins. The team will also face the main India side before the beginning of the England tour.
Read the full India A squad for the England tour 2025 right here.
With Indian players being the cream of the crop in this year's Indian Premier League, you can expect a number of them to feature in today's India squad.
Firstly, Sai Sudharsan, who has rocked the league with his batting, will likely be a reserve member in the squad, replacing Abhimanyu Eswaran. Shreyas Iyer has been stunning for PBKS, and will likely come in at number 4.
With Shami struggling for fitness, Anshul Kamboj or Khaleel Ahmed can make the cut as the second pacer in the team.
Former cricketer and national team selector Saba Karim has backed Shubman Gill as the new skipper for the Indian Test team, with other names like Rishabh Pant being floated as alternatives.
바카라You have Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant. Considering this is the start of a new WTC cycle, I would go with a young, talented leader 바카라 Shubman Gill,바카라 Karim said.
However, former BCCI selection committee chairman Kiran More picked KL Rahul for the captaincy role, going with experience ahead of the crucial series.
바카라I would go with KL Rahul 바카라 he바카라s an experienced campaigner,바카라 More said. 바카라I don바카라t want to put too much pressure on Shubman Gill.바카라
As per reports, the BCCI selectors are set to convene the meeting at 12:30 PM, and it will be headed by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar. After the meeting, the press conference will be called at 1:30 PM IST, where Agarkar wlil reveal the squad.
With BCCI going for a wholesale change, there are number of surprising players who can sneak into the squad, especially considering their performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Players like Sarfaraz Khan, Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, and Mukesh Kumar are all reasonable shouts to make the squad, especially consdiering the BCCI's focus on young players for this term.
As per media reports, Jasprit Bumrah has reportedly pulled himself out of the race for India's Test captaincy. Know about the reason in the full article.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has reportedly made his way to the BCCI headquarters, with the squad meeting set to commence in 20 minutes or so.
Stay tuned for more updates as they come in.
The BCCI meeting is going on right now, with the India squad announcement for the England Test series less than an hour away. Meanwhile, you can watch the press conference live on the JioHotstar website and app, as well as the Star Sports Network channels.
Former BCCI selector Kiran More criticised Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir for the way they have handled the choice for new captain, saying that Team India are going through a transitition period and may struggle in the upcoming England series.
바카라They (Agarkar & Gambhir) have suddenly woken up. Now they are saying who will be the next captain. They should have prepared,바카라 More said. 바카라You never thought about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma바카라s retirement.바카라
바카라I don바카라t expect any miracles on this (England) tour because I think India are going to struggle,바카라 More added.
Both Saba Karim and Kiran More have said that they would pick Nitish Reddy over Shardul Thakur, saying that the former should be the only one being picked for the India squad.
Both players are part of the India A squad, and will be in contention as part of India's new pace attack, considering the injury issues for Shami and Bumrah.
The sporting world is as divided as possible, with some like Ravi Shastri and Aaron Finch choosing Jasprit Bumrah as the new Test captain, while others like Saba Karim going for Shubman Gill.
It's experience versus youth at the moment. About 15 minutes to go before we find out the answer, so stay tuned!
As per reports, the squad meeting has been concluded, and the squad will be announced in approximately five minutes or so. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, who oversaw the meeting, has left the headquarters, and Ajit Agarkar will attend the press conference from 1:30 PM IST. Stay tuned.
BCCI selection committee member Shiv Sunder Das and chief selector Ajit Agarkar are live at the press conference, which is underway.
India Squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
Read our full article on the squad announcement.
No surprises here: Shubman Gill is the new India Test captain, and Rishabh Pant continues as the vice captain.
It's a young leadership that BCCI has put their faith on, with skipper Gill being 25 years old, and Rishabh Pant just older at 27 years.
Read more about India's captaincy selection here.
In a move that should not come as a big surprise, Mohammed Shami misses out from the India Test squad due to not being fit enough.
바카라He바카라s been trying to get fit for the (England) series, but he바카라s had a little bit of a setback the last week or so,바카라 Agarkar said. 바카라I don바카라t think he was going to be able to play the five Tests, and at the moment, I don바카라t think his workload is where it needs to be.바카라
Ajit Agarkar has confirmed that bowler Jasprit Bumrah will not be available for all the five Tests match in the England tour, and is more likely to play as many as three or four Tests.
바카라Even if he바카라s fit for three-four Tests, he바카라ll be an asset for us,바카라 Agarkar said. 바카라Just happy he바카라s part of the squad. He바카라s more important to us as a player.바카라
Bumrah바카라s unavailability for the entire series is also likely the reason why he wasn't picked as the captain.
Two fringe players have made the squad, and will have a chance to shine during the upcoming tour. Karun Nair is the biggest call, making his return to India squad having last played in March 2017. Nair was on fire for Vidarbha during the Ranji Trophy season, scoring 863 runs.
Meanwhile, India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran has made the main squad. After a long time on the fringes despite some terrific performances in First-Class cricket for Bengal, the 29-year-old is in line to make his long-awaited India debut. Tamil Nadu player and current IPL Orange Cap holder Sai Sudharsan can make his debut during this series as well.
1st Test, 20 June: Headingley, Leeds
2nd Test, 2 July: Edgbaston, Birmingham
3rd Test, 10 July: Lord's, London
4th Test, 23 July: Old Trafford, Manchester
5th Test, 31 July: Kennington Oval, London
Two youngsters who have missed out on their Test squad places are Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana. Instead of Rana, BCCI has gone with Akash Deep and Arshdeep in terms of pace attack. The extra pacer seems to have pushed Sarfaraz out of the squad too.
The current squad about eight players who are out and out batters, and new captain Gill will have to choose who starts and who is left out during the England series, and who plays in what order.
The first-choice opening pair will likely be KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, with Gill and Rishabh Pant coming in at number three and four. The middle will be tough, and Pant may chose to drop a bit deeper in the line-up to give other top-order batters like Karun Nair or Abhimanyu Easwaran a spot in the playing XI. Then there's the question of how to utilise Sai Sudharsan as well.
It will be interesting to see how Gill manages such as top-heavy batting line-up, with at least top-order batters in the squad.
That's the end of our live coverage of the Indain squad announcement for the upcoming England tour 2025. From all of us at Outlook: Thank you for joining in!