Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill - (Source : @Johns/X.com)
On Saturday, May 24, India announced the squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England away from home. The WTC runners-up announced a 18-member squad, full of surprises and several takeaways.
Notably, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their Test retirement, which led to the announcement of new captain and vice-captain for the upcoming WTC cycle. Further, there were several talking points from the squad also Ajit Agarkar's presser and this article will look at the key takeways from the squad. But first lets look at the squad.
Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Prasiddh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav.
1. New Captain And Vice-Captain For Tests
Notably, Shubman Gill has been announced as the new Test captain, while Rishabh Pant has been announced as his deputy for the upcoming WTC cycle. It is worth noting that Gill, who has succeeded Rohit Sharma as the new captain, has also become India's fifth youngest Test captain in the history of India cricket.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has replaced Jasprit Bumrah as new vice-captain in Test cricket.
2.Jasprit Bumrah To Not Play All Five Test Matches
In a shocking development, Ajit Agarkar, in his presser, confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah will not be available for selection in all five-Test matches as the physios has advised against playing the MI star in all the games to avoid repeating a BGT-like mistake.
Agarkar revealed that Jasprit is expected to play just three matches but a call would be taken later on the number of games that would be deemed to be fit for Bumrah. Nonetheless, his injury concerns were the reason behind him getting no leadership roles.
3.Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan And Harshit Rana Miss Out
Among the noticeable absentees, Sarfaraz Khan, who was a part of India's squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy, misses out despite having a great domestic performance. Further, Shreyas Iyer, who too proved his mettle across formats in the domestic circuit and international stage, failed to get a place in the team.
Talking about the numbers, Sarfaraz scored 239 runs in 2 innings in Irani Cup 2024 where he averaged 239, which included a double century. Further, Iyer amassed 480 runs in seven innings, averaging 68.57 during Ranji Trophy 2024 and yet failed to find a place in the squad.
Meanwhile, Harshit Rana too was dropped from the Test side despite being part of the Indian team in Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
4.Karun Nair, Sai Sudharsan, Arshdeep Singh Gets A Surprise Pick
Among the surprise picks, Karun Nair returned to the Indian squad after seven years owing to his great domestic season where he heaped big runs. Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan, who is the leading run-getter in IPL 2025, has also earned his maiden Test call-up. Also, India wanted a left-arm seamer in the team, which is why they referred to Arshdeep Singh and included the PBKS bowler in the team.
Karun Nair wreaked havoc in the domestic circuit and scored 863 runs in 16 innings in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25, averaging 53.94. Further, Sai too scored a double century in the Ranji Trophy, but also smashed a century playing in County cricket last year, which prompted the selectors to pick him for the series.
5. Mohammed Shami Misses Out Because Of Injury
Mohammed Shami too fails to find a place in the 18-member squad as chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Mohammed Shami is not a part of the squad because of a fresh injury. Notably, the right-arm seamer underwent a MRI scan and it revealed a fresh injury, which ruled out his participation from England series.
 "Abhinav Tyagi")
