Watch: Indian cricket team departs for England; heralds start of new era

Indian cricket team at the airport ahead of their tour of England. (Twitter)

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India's Test squad

England squad for first Test:

The Indian cricket team departed from Mumbai Airport on Friday for England to play a five-match Test series as part of the 2025-27 ICC World Test Championship cycle. This marks India's first bilateral Test series following the recent retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket.The series will take place between June and August 2025, with matches scheduled across five venues: Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord's and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.The Indian team is currently in transition, with Shubman Gill assuming captaincy duties following the departure of senior players R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli from Test cricket.Several Indian players had already arrived in England earlier to participate in warm-up matches representing India A against the England Lions. The remaining squad members will arrive in the UK on Friday.India A are currently engaged in a three-match unofficial Test series against the England Lions. The first match concluded in a draw, with the second unofficial Test beginning on Friday, June 6, at the County Ground in Northampton.England have announced their squad for the opening Test at Headingley, featuring significant changes from their previous 4-1 Test series defeat in India. Notable absences include retired pacer James Anderson, while Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes, and Ollie Robinson have been dropped.Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav.Ben Stokes (Durham, captain), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), and Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

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