India starts its 2025-26 World Test Championship (WTC) campaign with a challenging five-match Test series away against England in the home of cricket. Will the Indian Team tame the English Lions?
For the England series, India will have a new look with many fresh faces in the side. They will sadly miss the services of their three best match winners- Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian selectors have taken the bold move of giving the captaincy role to young Shubman Gill. It will definitely be a double-edged sword and ‘baptism with fire’ for the young captain who would need to take up not only the leadership role but also prove as a batsman in English conditions.
Two back-to-back Test series losses (0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home and a 1-3 Loss down under in the Border- Gavaskar Trophy) saw Team India out of the World Test Championship Final race.
Can the new-look India start the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a win against England’s Bazball at Leeds?
India has not won a Test Series in England since 2007, proving that England is indeed one of the toughest environments to play cricket, especially for subcontinent teams.
India almost won the last Test Series, when they led the Test Series 2-1 before COVID struck. The momentum was lost, and England managed to win the last Test, played months later, levelling the series.
Is it fair on Indian fans to expect an England series win from a young Indian side when seniors have failed in the past?
Inexperience playing in English conditions
While the players are professional and should adapt to different conditions, it is easier said than done.
Players nowadays, with the India A tours, would have gained some experience playing in English conditions. But playing England’s senior Test team in England is a whole different ball game.
From the new look Indian side, only KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant have experience playing in English conditions. The rest of the young team will have their first taste of Test cricket in England.
From the Indian team, at least 2 debuts are expected in the first test. Sai Sudharashan or Abhimanyu Eashwaran can make their debut along with Karun Nair making a comeback after a 7-year absence from International cricket.
Some of the Indian boys have English county experience, which will help them to acclimatize to the conditions quicker as compared to the others.
The Indian boys are coming into the test series with tons of runs behind them in domestic cricket and bowlers in good shape and form. This will be good news for Team India.
Except for Yashasvi Jaiswal, all Batsmen have scored runs in their warmup games.
Jasprit Bumrah to feature in only 3 Matches in the Test Series
To manage his workload in Test, Jasprit Bumrah is likely to feature in only three of the five Tests. Bumrah was over-bowled in the Border-Gavaskar Test series which saw Bumrah’s injury relapse, putting him out of action for a long time.
How does India fair in all the venues to be played in this Test series
- Venue for First Test: Leads, Headingley
- 7 Played
- 2 Won
- 4 Lost
- 1 Draw
- 7 Played
- Venue for Second Test: Edgbaston, Birmingham
- 8 Played
- 0 Won
- 7 Lost
- 1 Draw
- 8 Played
- Venue for Third Test: Lord’s, London
- 19 Tests played
- 3 Wins
- 12 Lost
- 4 Draw
- 19 Tests played
- Venue for Fourth Test: Old Trafford, Manchester
- 9 Played
- 0 Won
- 4 Lost
- 5 Draw
- 9 Played
- Venue for Fifth Test: The Oval, London
- 14 played
- 2 Won
- 5 Lost
- 7 Draw
- 14 played
India will begin their new red-ball journey under Shubman Gill’s captaincy on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds.
India vs England full squads for 1st Test
India:
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.
England squad:
Ben Stokes (c), Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
Probable Playing 11 – SuperSports Choice
- K.L Rahul
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Sai Sudharshan
- Shubman Gill
- Karun Nair
- Rishabh Pant
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Shardul Thakur
- Jaspreet Bumrah
- Prasidh Krishna/Arshdeep Singh
- Mohammed Siraj
SuperSports View
It is a great opportunity for the youngsters to do well and do something special. While there are always going to be expectations from cricket fans, experts believe a single Test win or two in the Test series may still be a great start for this new look Indian side.
England at home in Test cricket since Covid has played 32 Test Matches and won 19, losing 8 in the process. Most series wins have been against lesser-ranked teams.
England lost a home series against New Zealand and drew against India and Australia. So, there is hope for this Indian side to push the England side to a corner.
While England may have an experienced Batting line up, India has a better bowling lineup. If Indian batsmen can put up a decent run on the board, Indian bowlers can spring a surprise.
England is still the favorites to win this game.
Our Predictions for the First Test at Leeds – England has a 65% chance of a win.
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