India Test Squad for England Tour 2025: Shubman Gill Set to Lead Post Rohit-Kohli Era

India Test Squad for England Tour 2025: Shubman Gill was announced as India’s new Test captain to define the true beginning of a new era in Indian cricket post the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

While Gill takes over the leadership rule, Rishabh Pant has been offically listed as his new deputy while a slew of changes were made across the board.

In a major miss in the 18-man roster, veteran pacer Mohammed Shami was unfit to make the cut as all-rounder Shardur Thakur bolted back into the squad after an impressive Ranji Trophy season. Returning after seven years is Karun Nair as India also bolstered the top-order stocks with the inclusion of Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran.

The team also sees comeback of old faces like Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur ready to make their mark on the English soil. Sai Sudarshan, meanwhile, has received his maiden call.

Notably, Shreyas Iyer has not been included in the squad and so is the case with young pacer Harshit Rana and batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Rishabh Pant has been named vice-captain, while Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan have earned call-ups in the squad. Karun Nair set the stage on fire while representing Vidarbha in domestic cricket last season. He scored runs for fun in the Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.

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Shardul Thakur also returned to the squad. Mohammed Shami was deemed unfit by the Medical Team. Hence, the pacer won't be making a trip to the UK. Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana have been dropped from India's squad for the series against England.

“Mohammed Shami is not fit, and he can’t manage his workload in Test cricket at the moment. Shami has been ruled out of the series. The medical team told us that his body was not capable of handling the pressure of red-ball cricket. There is no point in taking a bowler whose fitness is not up to the mark,” Ajit Agarkar said while speaking to reporters.

The senior selection committee, headed by former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar, is of the opinion that 25-year-old Gill is the ideal candidate to take over as Test captain. However, the selectors were to discuss the same with the BCCI before making a formal announcement. This paper had earlier reported how India’s fast bowling figurehead and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to be given a leadership role on the Test tour to England starting June-end.

The star fast bowler had captained India to its only Test match win during the Australia tour at the turn of the year, apart from leading in two other Tests. But since Bumrah is unlikely to feature in all the five Tests in England, as part of his workload management, the selectors had to look at another option.

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India’s Test series against England is scheduled to kick off from June 20 with the fifth and final Test starting July 31.

India tour of England, Full schedule

1. Test, 20–24 June 2025 – Headingley, Leeds
2. Test, 2–6 July 2025 – Edgbaston, Birmingham
3. Test, 10–14 July 2025 – Lord’s, London
4. Test, 23–27 July 2025 – Old Trafford, Manchester
5. Test, 31 July – 4 August 2025 – The Oval, London

India full squad for England tour

Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

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