BCCI announced the India A squad for the unofficial Tests against England Lions on Friday.
The India A squad for the upcoming unofficial Test series against England Lions in England was announced on Friday, with Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran to lead the side. India A will play two unofficial Tests against England Lions before playing an intra-squad match. There are quite a few notable inclusions and exclusions from the squad.
This series will act as a preparation for some players ahead of the Indian senior team’s upcoming tour of England. India are scheduled to play five Tests against England, with the first Test starting from June 20 in Leeds. Let us now take a look at five major takeaways from the India A squad for the upcoming unofficial Tests:
Two out-of-favour cricketers in Ishan Kishan and Karun Nair are back in India Test contention as they feature in the India A squad against England Lions.
Notably, Ishan Kishan has not played for India since 2023 whereas Karun Nair’s last match for the national side goes back to March 2017 during a Test against Australia. In early 2024, Kishan was dropped from the BCCI central contract due to his failure to turn up for Jharkhand in domestic cricket. He, however, made a comeback to the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy side for the first two matches of the 2024-25 season and captained the side.
Karun Nair, too, has impressed in domestic cricket this season. Most particularly in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, wherein he scored 779 runs from nine innings.
Another big development in the India A squad is that there is depth of pacers. The squad consists of Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande and Anshul Kamboj. Not to forget, there’s also all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who could come in handy in English conditions.
Should there be a setback to any of India’s frontline pacer, then there are plenty of options the team management can choose from. Of course, form in the upcoming unofficial Tests will certainly be considered.
With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from Tests recently, India are in a transition phase, But it’s not just the batting where they are transitioning in. It’s also the bowling, most particularly spin bowler. India A squad for the series against England Lions features a couple of exciting spinner prospects in Manav Suthar and Tanush Kotian.
Both of them have impressed in the domestic circuit for Rajasthan and Mumbai respectively. Suthar, in January this year, scored a half-century and picked four wickets during a Ranji Trophy match against Andhra.
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Tanush Kotian, on the other hand, has been pipped as the “next big thing” among spinners in the post Ravichandran Ashwin era. He took 23 matches from six matches in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season. Last year, during the Irani Cup, Kotian scored 64 and 114* in both innings respectively against Rest of India. This was apart from taking three wickets in the first innings.
Shubman Gill has been pipped to become India’s next Test captain, but what’s more concerning is his form in Tests. The Punjab batter endured a forgettable Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series in Australia, scoring just 93 runs from five innings. Gill will get the opportunity to find his rhythm ahead of the main series but will only be available ahead of the second game against England Lions.
Gill’s form will prove crucial in England now that both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retired from Tests, as he will lead a new-look top-order.
Shreyas Iyer does not feature in the India A squad despite an impressive run for in FC cricket Mumbai in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season. The 30-year-old had aggregated 480 runs from seven innings at an average of 58.57. This includes two centuries, but even those aren’t enough for Iyer to find a place in the India A squad. Shreyas Iyer last played a Test in February 2024 against England in Visakhapatnam.
Shreyas Iyer’s omission, however, was looming after there were reports that he wouldn’t be a part of either the India A squad or even the India squad for the England Tests.
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