The series will commence on June 20.
Former Australian player Brad Hogg has opined that spinner Kuldeep Yadav would be the key to defining the fate of India’s tour for the England Test series. He acknowledged the different variations of the chinaman and appreciated his comeback to the Test team for an away series since 2019.
“He’s got great variation. He’s very hard to pick. I think it’s great that he’s back in that Test team. And I think he is going to be the difference in this series,” he stated in an interview with the RevSportz.
The 54-year-old stated that he would want Kuldeep to play all five matches of the series. His suggested batting order for India against England consisted of vice-captain Rishabh Pant at No.6, followed by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep. The former spinner also included pacer Prasidh Krishna in his bowling lineup, who recently had an impressive outing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, besides the prime pacer Jasprit Bumrah and youngster Arshdeep Singh.
“I’d play him in every team. If I was going through the Indian bowling lineup, I’d probably have Jadeja in there as one of the options, batting deeper down. You’d have Pant coming in at number six, Jadeja at seven, and then Kuldeep. And I’d have Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, I think you need a left-arm bowler there, and I’d go with Prasidh as well,” he added.
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Moreover, he emphasised the previous experience of Kuldeep while playing against England at the Lord’s Stadium in 2018. The former player believes those takeaways and the advice from veteran spinner Jadeja would help the 30-year-old to succeed on English soil.
“He knows as long as he’s learned from those experiences over in England beforehand. Whether it’s just in the nets or so forth, as long as he learns from them, talks to Jadeja who’s been over there a long period of time as well, he’ll be able to get those coping mechanisms and get the right plan in place to be able to really ignite over there in England,” said Hogg.
Since his Test debut against Australia at home in 2017, the spinner has featured in only 13 matches and scalped 56 wickets. He holds impressive stats against England. The chinaman bagged 21 wickets in six matches against the English side with a best figure of 5/72. However, he went wicketless in his only Test match in England.
After the Test retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the new team India is set to kick off the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle for 2025-27 with the upcoming tour of England. The five-match series, led by the youngster Shubman Gill, will commence on June 20 in Headingley.
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