India announce squad for ENG vs IND 2025 Tests; 33-year-old returns after 7 years

Team India have named a 18-man squad for the upcoming five-match series against England, which will begin the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar officially announced the squad at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters in Mumbai on Saturday, May 24.

Shubman Gill has been named as the new Test captain while Rishabh Pant will be his deputy for the tour, scheduled to begin with the series opener in Headingley, Leeds, on June 20.

Gill becomes the fourth youngest to captain a Test for India after Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, and Ravi Shastri. The ace batter has led India previously in T20Is during the T20I tour of Zimbabwe in 2024, and is currently leading the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The squad features the highly anticipated return of Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur, while in-form batter Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh also earn their maiden red-ball call-ups, largely along expected lines.

Karun Nair, who impressed in the 2024-25 domestic season for Vidarbha, last played a Test in 2017 during the home series against Australia.

Sarfaraz Khan, however, missed out after spending the entire Border-Gavaskar series on the sidelines.

The squad also features two fast bowling all-rounders in Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur. The former impressed in his maiden Test assignment in Australia, while the latter has a stellar record in England.

Ravindra Jadeja leads the spin bowling attack, and is accompanied by Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar. This series marks a major step for the spin department following the retirement of the veteran spearhead, Ravichandran Ashwin.

As far as the pace bowling unit is concerned, both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj predictably lead the pack. The support group in the pace department includes Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh, as veteran pacer Mohammad Shami and right-arm pacer Harshit Rana fail to make the cut.

Team India's squad for five-match Test series against England

Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav

Team India squad likely to leave for England after the IPL 2025

The majority of the players named in the squad are involved in the business stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which concludes on June 3. A couple of names from the main squad have also been included in the India 'A' side, who will play three matches in total, including one against the senior team from June 13 onwards.

Despite being largely competitive on English shores over the last two tours, Team India's last series win in the country dates back to 2007, under Rahul Dravid's captaincy. The Men in Blue returned a 2-2 series result during their last tour in 2021-22.