The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday, May 24 announce the 18-man squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England from June 20.
Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector alongside Shiv Sundar Das, revealed the names for the upcoming tour with Shubman Gill anointed as the new Test captain and Rishabh Pant as his deputy.
From Gill's Test captaincy to Mohammed Shami's exclusion, here are the five takeaways from the India's Test team selection:
Gill Appointed As New Test Captain
Shubman Gill was named as the new Test captain, replacing the retired Rohit Sharma for the upcoming England tour next month. At 25 years and 258 days, Gill becomes India's fifth-youngest cricketer to lead India in Tests, behind the likes of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (21 years, 77 days), Sachin Tendulkar (23 years, 169 days), Kapil Dev (24 years, 48 days), and Ravi Shastri (25 years, 229
Karun Nair's Retribution
After a span of eight years, Karun Nair is back in the Test whites as the veteran batter boards the plane to England for the five-match series. Nair, who has a triple century to his name, was out of favour and completely freezed out from the national team. However, his exceptional batting form in the domestic circuit has seen him win back his Test cap and earn his way to the national team.
Jasprit Bumrah's Injury Issue
바카라œWe don바카라™t think he (Jasprit Bumrah) will be available for all five Tests," Agarkar stated. Bumrah's unavailability for some of the Tests could be a hammer blow, given the severity of the opposition as well as an inexperienced bowling attack.
Abhimanyu Easwaran Makes The Cut
Bengal Ranji team captain Abhimanyu Easwaran was also included in the squad for the England tour. Easwaran, who will be leading India A side, has been on the fringes of Team India, merely making the numbers. Now the 29-year-old could be in line to represent the national side, given the lack of experience in the middle-order.
Shami's Absence
One of the major talking point was Mohammed Shami's exclusion for the tour to England. Shami, whose last Test was the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June 2023, had recently returned to the national set-up earlier this year after undergoing an ankle surgery in February 2024.
SQUAD: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk/vc), 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.
