Mumbai: Shubman Gill has been made the new Test captain of India for the England tour, while wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been made the vice-captain of the team. Karun Nair has returned to the Indian team, while B Sai Sudarshan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have also been given a place in the Test team. The selectors announced the 18-member team for the England tour on Saturday. However, the team does not include Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana, who were in Team India for the Border Gavaskar Trophy on the Australia tour.
Was Sarfaraz Khan made a scapegoat?
India won only one Test on the Australia tour, but there were many controversies which are still unresolved. There were reports of a rift between Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma. This is the reason why Rohit Sharma, who was struggling with poor form, did not play the last Test. Now he had to retire from Tests without playing. Meanwhile, a lot of news was leaked to the media, on which Gautam Gambhir also reprimanded the players in the dressing room. Later, Sarfaraz Khan was accused of leaking the news, although no information was given by the board.
Sarfaraz Khan had lost 10 kg weight
Now Sarfaraz Khan is a part of India-A, but he has not been included in the main team. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan, who was out of IPL, had worked a lot on his fitness by losing 10 kg weight. Well, Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy will be the fast bowling all-rounders in the Indian squad, while Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh have been included in the fast bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah.
Despite being eligible, BCCI ignored these 5 players, they will be missed on the England tour!
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Sarfaraz Khan, who scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket, has also not been given a place in India's main squad against England by the BCCI. Let us tell you that Sarfaraz is a part of the India A team. Khan has scored 371 runs in 6 Tests for India with 1 century and 3 half-centuries.
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Young fast bowler Harshit Rana made his Test debut for India on the Australia tour. He impressed with his bowling on the first tour as a youngster. But, despite this, he has not been selected for the England tour now. He has taken 4 wickets for India so far in 2 Tests.
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Indian team's experienced top order batsman Shreyas Iyer did not get a chance for the England tour. His domestic season was good. Despite this, he did not get a chance. Iyer's experience could have been useful for India in the absence of Kohli and Rohit.
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India's wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan has also not got a chance. Although he was included in the India A squad. But he did not get a place in the main squad. Kishan could have been an attacking option for India.
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Fast bowler Mukesh Kumar's name has also not been selected for the England tour. Mukesh's performance in domestic cricket has been excellent. Apart from this, his performance in Tests for the Indian team has also been decent. Mukesh has taken 7 wickets in 3 Tests for India.
Mohammed Shami is also unfit
Kuldeep Yadav will be seen supporting Ravindra Jadeja in the spin department. However, faces like Sarfaraz Khan are missing in the selected team. On the other hand, fast bowler Mohammed Shami has not got a place, he is not fit for the England tour. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that the England tour will be challenging but he has full faith in Gill. He will replace Rohit Sharma, who retired from this format in May due to poor form last season, especially in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy held in Australia. Gill has played 32 Tests for India so far.
He made his Test debut in the MCG Test on India's 2020-21 Australia tour. He has scored 1893 runs so far at an average of 35.05. There is a big difference between his average at home (42.03) and outside (27.53). The upcoming series will be Gill's first full tour. They have played two WTC Finals there in 2021 and 2023 and also played the fifth Test on the 2021 tour, which was postponed due to COVID-19. India will begin the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a five-Test series against England.
Indian team for England tour
Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
Indian team's schedule for England tour
First Test, 20 June - Headingley
Second Test, 2 July - Edgbaston
Third Test, 10 July - Lord's
Fourth Test, 23 July - Old Trafford
Fifth Test, 31 July - The Oval
