England : The first Test will be played at Headingley in Leeds from June 20.
The Indian team is set to play a five-match Test series against England. The first Test of the series will be played at Headingley in Leeds from June 20. With this series, both the teams will also start their World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. The Men in Blue will be led by Shubman Gill. Playing against the English team on England soil is not going to be easy for Gill and Co.
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Meanwhile, England have announced their playing XI for the first Test match against India starting at Headingley from Friday. All-rounder Chris Woakes is returning to the team for the first time since December. At the same time, fast bowler Brydon Carse will play his first Test on home soil.
England’s playing XI for the first Test against India
Jack Crowley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Ben Stokes (captain)
Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper)
Chris Woakes
Brydon Carse
Josh Tongue
Shoaib Bashir
Team news from Leeds ahead of a BIG week 📋
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 18, 2025
Ready to face @BCCI 👊
Team India will play in the absence of Rohit-Virat
Team India has gone on the England tour this time in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin. All three of these veterans have retired from the longest format of the game. In such a situation, head coach Gautam Gambhir has expressed a lot of confidence in the youth. Shubman Gill has been given the command of the team while the experienced Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul are there.
Talking about India’s playing XI, KL Rahul can open and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be with him. Sai Sudarshan or Abhimanyu Easwaran will play at number three, while captain Gill himself can be seen batting at Virat’s number-4 position. After this, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant can come in the lineup.
After that, experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will be given a chance. One of Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav can be selected for number 8. Keeping in mind the English conditions, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj can be included in the fast bowling attack.