BCCI announce India squad for England tour; Shubman Gill to captain, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran get call ups

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced the Test squad for India's tour of England, which commences on June 20, with a slew of fresh faces and a new captain.

As expected, Shubman Gill is the captain of the Test team, which will embark on a five-match Test series in June.

Rishabh Pant has been named as Gill's deputy and will continue to be the designated wicketkeeper, with Dhruv Jurel selected as the backup option.

New faces

There has been a vaccum in the Indian top order after the retirements of Rohit Sharma, who opened the batting, and Virat Kohli, who was India's number 4.

The BCCI have given call-ups to Gill's Gujarat Titans' teammate Sai Sudharsan while the latter's fellow Tamil Nadu batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran also gets the nod for the senior team.

Easwaran is captaining the India A side, which will play three warm up games in England before the Test series starts.

Karun Nair, who last played a Test for India in 2017, also gets the nod after a stellar last 12 months with the bat, both in domestic cricket and in the Indian Premier League for the Delhi Capitals.

India's potential batting order

KL Rahul is expected to open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal while Sudharsan will battle Nair for the number three spot. Captain Gill will most likely take Kohli's number four position in the Indian top order.

Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who can bowl a bit of medium pace, are expected to complete the top six, post which the all-rounders and bowlers will follow.

Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur could be the all-round options at seven and eight, respectively, and the last three positions will most likely be occupied by the fast bowlers.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are expected to open the bowling with the new ball while the battle for the third seamer will have three contenders - Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, and Arshdeep Singh.

Indian test squad for England tour: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (Vice-Captain & wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (2nd wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav.