After much debates and discussions, India have made a huge call to hand over the Test captaincy reins to Shubman Gill ahead of the England tour next month. The India Test squad announced will be met with a massive challenge as they embark on the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle without the presence of two stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who have been mainstays in the red-ball squads since the WTC began.
The 18-member squad, listed out by Ajit Agarkar, the Chief Selector of the men’s team, fills the void, in name, left by the two giants of Indian cricket. That and a few other new inclusions mean that we have a new era of Indian Test cricket to look forward to. And it begins with a trial by fire as they take on the Bazball challenge away from home.
Before we head deeper into the nitty gritties it’s always useful to see the Test squad divided by roles to get a good look at which spots are adequately covered and which ones are thin.
Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran
Middle-order: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant
All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep
Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav
If Shubman Gill isn’t facing the heat yet, it’s probably because he’s in his dark blue clothing walking out to bat accompanied by Sai Sudharsan for a 20-over game knowing that there’s Jos Buttler behind them to cover up. There’s no such luxury in this Indian Test team. If anything, there’s added onus on Gill after Kohli’s retirement, with his batting position itself up for debate.
Gill has captaincy worries with Bazball known to test the tactical acumen of the captain on the go. But first up, he has his own batting issues to sort – an away average of 29.5 in 13 Tests do not ooze confidence (let’s not even go to the SENA numbers). Gill has batted six times in Tests before in England, and on four of those occasions India were fighting for the WTC title.
This time, there’s no trophy pressure given it’s the start of the cycle, but Gill has no room for failures. On the Australian tour last year, Gill averages 18.6 across three Tests batting at No.3. Remember that he was dropped for the Boxing Day Test on this tour, a sign that while India back Gill to be good, they know he’s not there yet by any means.
The selection hints that India might have understood that it might not his best batting position – Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair are there to occupy that position while Gill gets the cushion at No.4 or even No.5. Will he gets his best spot slightly down the order? Will captaincy put Gill under further pressure and will it affect the batting? He’s set to play a game with the India A side (yes, the captain himself will play under a player who’s just about made the Test team in a tour game) before the Test series.
The No.4 spot has a gaping hole left by Virat Kohli. While Rohit Sharma’s role has been covered with a reasonably experienced option in KL Rahul, there’s not much luxury in the options for the No.4 spot left by Kohli. It’s probably why Karun Nair is back – to lend a bit of experience to the middle-order – but does he fit into India’s best XI?
Gill himself and Nitish Reddy, who had more than streaks of brilliance on the Australia tour, are other options. There’s also Dhruv Jurel, who’s never failed to make a strong impression in the Tests he’s played and in the tour games in Australia. Sai Sudharsan is expected to fill the No.3 spot so might not be a contender for the Kohli position.
With Nitish, Karun and even Jurel, the challenge is making the XI in the first place. As such, it’s very likely that we’ll see Gill take over from Kohli the coveted No.4 spot with his IPL opening partner being the shield at No.3. It’s not ideal, of course, but it’s possibly the best India can do if they want to go all-rounder heavy. If not, there’s the option to play Jurel at No.4 with Gill further down the order at No.5.
A left-field option could be KL Rahul in the Kohli role at No.4 with Sai Sudharsan and Jaiswal opening and Karun Nair at No.3. But it’s unlikely that India will break the Jaiswal-Rahul pair that did well in Australia.
This leads us nicely into the next question – do India prefer bowling depth or batting depth? Ideally, it’s both of course. And the squad indicates that India will not want to compromise on either with as many as four all-rounders in the mix, including that old war horse Shardul Thakur.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir had often bared his preference to have more all-round options in the playing XI and it’s very likely that India might consider an extra all-rounder over a specialist bowler or batter in a fill-in role. It happened in Australia with Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar all featuring in the same XI in the fifth and final Test in Sydney. It didn’t stop Australia from romoing home to a comfortable win, and it won’t stop England either.
But it remains to be seen if that approach is shelved. Early indications from the squad are that India will continue to prefer an extra all-round option over a specialist if it comes down to that in the final XI selection.
If they do choose to go batting heavy, this squad has options in plenty with Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the mix. And if they want an additional spin option, there’s Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar to slot in with Ravindra Jadeja as an additional spinner. There are also as many as six pace bowlers to go pace bowling heavy, but again, the indicators from the squad are that India will likely lean on the all-rounders a bit more (read picking a Sundar over a Kuldeep or a Shardul over an Arshdeep) in the final XI choices.
Confirmed by Ajit Agarkar now, this should be singled out as India’s biggest concern on this England tour. Bumrah’s presence is not only a strong antidote to the Bazball mantra but also one that allows the batters a bit more breathing room, knowing that one of their strike forces can give an equally tough time to opposition batters.
If Bumrah misses out in a couple of Tests (a possibility strongly hinted at by Agarkar in the press conference) India’s pace attack with be short of arsenal. There’s no Mohammed Shami, who’s out with injury, either to lend some experience to the attack. Without the duo, there’ll be huge onus on the likes of Siraj and Prasidh to take on the bowling mantle.
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The Test squad is a well-rounded one along expected lines. But two players who could feel hard done by are Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana. The likes of Karun and Sudharsan edged out Sarfaraz from the middle-order back up spots despite Sarfaraz showcasing improved fitness in the lead up to the tour. He’s not done much wrong in whites for India either, so it’s fair to say that he’s failed the eye test for overseas conditions, much like someone like Shreyas Iyer.
Karun not only accumulated 863 runs in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season (the fourth most by any one) but also impressed for Northamptonshire in the County with 487 runs in seven matches averaging 48.7, a stint that also included a double century.
Sudharsan played only three games in the Ranji season, averaging 76.0, but also turned up for Surrey in the County Championship Division One in three games. Batting at No.6, Sudharsan also hammered an impressive hundred against Nottinghamshire.
Sudharsan had also featured for Surrey in September 2023, the season where Surrey went on to win the Division One title.
Meanwhile, all six of Sarfaraz Khan’s Test matches have come at home and with no County experience to show, Karun and Sudharsan have edged him in the final squad. It’s an indication that this Indian side is clear about who they want in the side for this tour.
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