Abhimanyu Easwaran to lead, Karun Nair included as BCCI announces squad for 2025 India A tour of England

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the highly anticipated squad for the India A tour of England, which begins on May 30. Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead the side, while Karun Nair has been included following his sublime form across formats in domestic cricket.

Senior players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Shardul Thakur, and Akash Deep have also been included to get acclimatized to the conditions. Other key inclusions were Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar and Dhruv Jurel.

India A will play their first unofficial Test against England Lions from May 30 to June 2 at Canterbury. The A side will then play the second match in Northampton (June 6-9). The visitors then lock horns in an intra-squad game from June 13 to 16 in Beckenham.

Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan will not be available for the first match due to the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs.

With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin retiring from Tests, at least 10 players from the A side are likely to be included in the main squad for the five-match Test series, which starts on June 20. The players will be keen to put their best foot forward to make it to the Team India squad as they begin the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.

It's worth mentioning that the previous Test series between the two senior teams ended in a 2-2 draw (five-game series in the UK). The visitors are likely to be the underdogs this time around.

India A squad for the 2025 England tour

Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarafraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey, Shubman Gill, and Sai Sudharsan.

India A squad for the 2025 England tour. [Pic credits: BCCI]

India A tour of England schedule:

• 1st unofficial Test: May 30 to June 2 in Canterbury
• 2nd unofficial Test: June 6 to 9 in Northampton
• Intra-squad match: June 13 to 16 in Beckenham.