India Test Squad for England Tour Live: Agarkar issued ‘India are going to struggle’ warning ahead of new captain reveal

India Test Squad for England tour Live: The India Test squad for the upcoming series against England will be announced on Saturday afternoon. The selection meeting is underway at the BCCI headquarters. The Indian cricket board will announce the Indian squad for the upcoming five-match England Test series in the press conference, with chief selector Ajit Agarkar heading proceedings. We won’t see Rohit Sharma in the press conference, as he has already announced his retirement from Test cricket, and so has Virat Kohli. Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin bid adieu to international cricket during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy....Read More

Media reports have speculated that KL Rahul has been informally informed by head coach Gautam Gambhir that he will open for India with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill will occupy Kohli’s no. 4 batting position, and we could have Sai Sudharsan or Karun Nair at no. 3. As per a Cricbuzz report, Sudharsan and Nair are likely to be included in the squad for their performance in the IPL and in domestic cricket. Nair bagged over 850 runs in nine Ranji Trophy matches and close to 800 runs at the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The main suspense is over the captaincy. Since Rohit’s Test retirement, there has been no official update on who will succeed him. Senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah is a contender, but his recurring injury issues don’t make him a favourite. Meanwhile, Gill is reportedly the frontrunner, and Pant is a choice for vice-captaincy. Surprisingly, Rahul is reportedly not seen as captain, due to his age. Bumrah was the vice-captain during the Australia tour and, logically, should be named as captain. Meanwhile, Pant’s disastrous IPL captaincy puts him out of contention totally, atleast for the captaincy role.

Following Ashwin’s retirement, Ravindra Jadeja is expected to be the lead spinner. In English conditions, we could see Washington Sundar get the nod ahead of Kuldeep Yadav, and partner Jadeja. Sundar also gives more depth in batting.

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