The England Cricket Board announced a 14-member squad for the first Test Match of the upcoming five-Test series against India. Under the Captaincy of Ben Stokes, England has selected a strong team, led by experienced players Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Ollie Pope in the batting lineup. Apart from these experiences, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, and Jamie Smith, like youngsters, have also been included in the squad.
England is facing some problems in the bowling department due to Gus Atkinson's injury. Atkinson was ruled out due to a hamstring strain. Following Atkinson's dismissal, the hosts might offer three fast bowlers a shot in the opening Test match: Sam Cook, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue, and Chris Woakes.
Once again, Ben Duckett and Zack Crawley can open for the England team. Star Batsman Ollie Pope will bat at three. The contemporary legend of the longest format, Joe Root, will bat at four. Vice Captain Harry Brook and Captain Ben Stokes will bat at five and six, respectively. Jamie Smith, a wicketkeeper batsman, can play at 7. Recently, against Zimbabwe, he batted at this position. One of Chris Woakes or Jamie Overton can play at 8. Josh Tongue, Sam Cook, and Brydon Carse are maybe the three fast bowlers for the Headingly Test.
Before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, these two teams faced off in an ODI and T20I series, with the Indian team winning both games. Under Rohit Sharma's leadership, India defeated England 4-1 in the final Test series between these two sides, which was played in 2024. In the upcoming cricket series, the England squad hopes to exact revenge on the youthful Indian team at their home. On the most recent trip to England, the series ended in a 2-2 draw. In the 2021 England Tour, India led 2-1 in the first four games under Virat Kohli's leadership. However, due to COVID-19, the final game was played in 2022, and England won by 7 wickets to tie the series.
Leeds will host the first Test of the series on June 20. Birmingham will host the second Test. The third Test will begin on July 10, 2025, at Lord's Cricket Ground. The fourth and fifth Tests of the series will be held at Old Trafford and Kennington Oval, respectively.
England 14-Member Squad For Series Opener
Ben Stokes ©, Joe Root, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith (WK), Josh Tongue, and Chris Woakes
India's 18-member squad for the England Tour
Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav