India’s Tour of England that starts mid-June holds extra significance after the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. India will play five Tests in England starting on June 20. Ahead of the main Tour, an India A side will tour England for a two matches. The India A’s Tour was supposed to begin on May 30, after the completion of the IPL 2025 (as per earlier schedule). But, now IPL 2025 will see the final being played on June 3, which means that there might be a possibility that the India A Tour might begin late, as some players who will be picked may be in action at the T20 franchise league.
According to a report in The Indian Express, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan will be the top two names in the India A squad for the first unofficial Test against England Lions. The report further said the BCCI selectors headed by Ajit Agarkar will pick a 14-member squad for India A’s first match, which will have players whose teams would not qualify for the IPL 2025 playoff stage.
Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian, Akash Deep, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj and Manav Suthar are some other players players who are expected to be selected, said the report. Sarfaraz Khan, who is not playing the IPL 2025, will got to England along with the main squad. RCB captain Rajat Patidar, down with a finger injury, may not make the cut for the England tour.
The report further said Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar may be sent for the second A fixture. India are also scheduled to play an intra-squad match before the first Test against England.
The performances of these matches will be closely watched especially with two slots opening up die to the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Abhimanyu Easwaran will hope to finally seal his place in the team after being among the top performers in the domestic circuit as well as for India A. He faces a competition with 23-year-old B Sai Sudharsan. Karun Nair, who also has been going great in domestic competitions, will be eager to perform for India A.
The report said Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna are the top choices for the England Tour. Anshul Kamboj also stands an outside chance.
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