England v India 2025- Test Match Series

India 18 Man Squad
Subnam Gill ©
Rishabh Pant (vc wk)
Yashasvi Jaiswal
K L Rahul
Sai Sudharsan
Abhimanyu Easwaren
Karun Nair
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Ravindra Jadeja
Dhruv Jurel (wk)
Washington Sundar
Shardul Thakur
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohammed Siraj
Prasidh Krishna
Akash Deep
Arshdeep Singh
Kuldeep Jadav

1st Test Headingley June 20 - 24
2nd Test Edgbaston July 2 - 6
3rd Test Lords July 10 - 14
4th Test Old Trafford July 23 - 27
5th Test The Oval July 31 - August 4

I have feeling it could be a close series as India are in transition after recent retirements, but still looks a formidable side. To have any success we have to break partnerships very quickly.

England squad for first Test against India: Ben Stokes (capt), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.

It's a good line - up but Feel this series could won and lost on literally on the first toss.

One question I have to ask will we se a day/night Test match in this country again? As far as I know not one of these test matches have been designated as one. Just have to hope we get a decent wicket at Headingley to exploit.

^^ The only Day/Night Test in England was in 2017 when they defeated the West Indies by an innings & 209 runs. Part of the reason to give the format a go & I suspect the main driver was that Australia were looking to host one in the following Ashes series, they didn't want to get caught out having not played one before. Since then England have played 5 losing all of them, 3 to Australia & twice to New Zealand.
Of the 22 Day/Night Test Matches, Australia have played 12 losing just once to New Zealand. It is safe to say that Australia have embraced the format, with the cheaper twilight tickets proving popular & swelling crowds. England didn't like that idea. We don't have the climate, I can vividly remember players & supporters wrapped up in blankets shivering, & that was in August. Public transport needs to be relied upon in the UK, it is not the best, I also remember crowds leaving early in the last session. In an ODI or T20 supporters will be more likely to stick it out with the result usually on the line, this would not always be the case on a Test Match day. With the variable conditions that the pink ball offers especially in England, 2 & 3 day matches would be more likely & therefore potential money lost. I suspect a regular Test would make more on the catering side with traditional lunch & tead breaks as oppose to the match starting in the early afternoon.

The Headingley pitch will be good, it ranks among the best in County cricket most years. Yorkshire struggle to effect results but that is more to do with the lack of pace in their bowling attack. High quality Test bowlers will get something out of it. Given the weather, the outfield will be rapid, it always is, wayward bowling will be punished, expect plenty of bounaries.

The teams been announced.
Pope's still in at 3. Woakes and Carse are the two quicks picked, with Overton, Cook and Bethel ommited.

I hope if we we have won the toss and batted first so we get the best of the batting conditions, would def think we need at least 400 - 450 BEFORE putting India in but if we put India into bat first It may end up being a decision we might end up regretting. Despite the retirements, I think India have a very credible batting order to trouble us.

Everything points to batting first, but it's always a brave move. The county pitches have started off very green, I expect that it will be a couple of millimetres shorter. The idea is to offer good bounce & carry, but it will get slower & lower. The hot temperatures will soon burn off the green tinge, with some slow tun later in the game.