Kolkata : Indian team is set to begin Shubman Gill era with first test at Headingley, Leeds against England on June 20, 2025, the venue in which India won only 2 times in 7 occasions – 1986 and 2002. This Test marks beginning of India’s World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.
It is to be noted that India haven’t won a series at England in their last 4 outings – 2011, 2014, 2018, 2021-22. Besides this, they’ll be without the services of veterans – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravi Ashwin, who shockingly announced retirement recently. There won’t be Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane too.
The young team has not only got great challenges ahead but also big boots to fill. The last time India didn’t have services of these veterans was at Oval Test (2011), a series where India faced 4-0 whitewash.
England would also have fresh faces, missing services of 2 legendary pacers – Stuart Broad and James Anderson. The pace department of England looks weaker compared to past lineups against India. Apart from Broad and Anderson, they’ll miss out premier fast bowlers like Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Olly Stone, Gus Atkinson, all out of Cricket for long time due to injury.
Venue :
Headingley, Leeds
Time :
3:30 PM IST
Head to Head :
Matches Played – 136
India Won – 35 (26 (Home) + 9 (Away)
England Won – 51 (36 (Home) + 15 (Away)
Tied – 50
Pitch and conditions :
Start out as a green seamer, flatten out thereafter. This is how Headingley’s pitches have behaved over recent years: lowest collective average (27.48) in the first and second innings of all English grounds that have hosted at least five Tests since 2010, and best collective average (33.65) in the third and fourth innings.
Bowl first is almost certainly the way to go at Headingley: teams bowling first have won each of the last six Tests at the venue, and the last four fourth innings here have produced successful chases of 322, 359, 296 and 251.
There is potentially one counterbalancing factor, though. The weather in Leeds has been unusually warm and dry in the lead-up to the Test against India starting on Friday, and if this persists (though there is rain forecast over the five days of the match), there is a chance for the pitch to break up more than it usually does.
Captain’s Corner :
Ben Stokes – “Shubman Gill’s a very, very fine player. He has been around a long time now, considering he’s only young. He has played a lot of cricket, a lot of IPL cricket, actually a lot of cricket for India. I think it’s an exciting time for Indian cricket, to be under new leadership. Obviously, a lot of pressure being captain of any Indian team, definitely; but yeah, it’s an exciting time. It always is for teams when a new leadership role comes into it. Obviously, he is my opposition for the next six weeks, so I won’t talk too much, but all the best.”
Shubman Gill : “Me and Rishabh [Pant], we have played a lot of cricket together, and our mindset and our thinking are sort of aligned, and our vision is sort of aligned. We want to create an environment in the team where everyone feels secure, and I personally believe that everyone’s best performances come when they’re feeling the most secure, and they’re feeling validated and secure, and that’s the kind of environment that we want to create in the team.”
Predicted Playing XI and analysis
England : England have already announced their playing XI officially. Ollie Pope will play at number 3 and Jacob Bethell is excluded.
The pace line up looks weak as discussed earlier with likes of Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse, Chris Woakes as 3 premier pacers, England will also like the services of captain Ben Stokes the bowler too. Shoaib Basir is the lone spinner in the side.
Top order looks good with Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett in opening, followed by Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith as wicke keeper and Chris Woakes.
Playing XI : 1) Zak Crawley, 2) Ben Duckett, 3) Ollie Pope, 4) Joe Root, 5) Harry Brook, 6) Ben Stokes (C), 7) Jamie Smith (wk), 8) Chris Woakes, 9) Brydon Carse, 10) Josh Tongue, 11) Shoaib Bashir.
India : With new captain Shubman Gill, Indian team is set to begin new era. They’ll miss services of Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin, Pujara, Rahane. India haven’t announced any Playing XI yet.
Gill will take over the No. 4 slot vacated by Kohli, and Rishabh Pant will bat at No. 5. It leaves India needing to pick two out of Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and the uncapped B Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran to bat at Nos. 3 and 6.Going by the precedent of the Australia tour, there’s even a chance India could play three of those five – two specialist bats plus Reddy as a seam-bowling allrounder.
If they resist the temptation to hedge their bets and extend their batting, they could choose between the bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur and the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav to occupy the No. 8 slot. Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj seem certain to start as the two senior fast bowlers, with either Prasidh Krishna’s height and bounce, Akash Deep’s accuracy and seam movement, or Arshdeep Singh’s left-arm swing in support.
India (probable): 1) Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2) KL Rahul, 3) Sai Sudharsan, 4) Shubman Gill (C), 5) Rishabh Pant (wk), 6) Karun Nair, 7) Ravindra Jadeja, 8) Nitish Kumar Reddy, 9) Prasidh Krishna, 10) Jasprit Bumrah, 11) Mohammed Siraj.
Stats to watch out :
– Gill (25 years and 285 days old on day one) is set to become India’s fifth-youngest Test captain behind MAK Pataudi, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri, and push Kohli (26 years and 34 days) down to sixth place.
– Bumrah has dismissed Joe Root nine times in Test cricket. Bumrah hasn’t dismissed any other batter as often, and only Pat Cummins (11 times) and Josh Hazlewood (10 times) have dismissed Root more often.
– Since 2018, the year of his first tour of England, KL Rahul has made more runs (597 at an average of 37.31) and more hundreds (two) than any other visiting opener in England.
– Currently, both Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni are the joint highest Indian wicketkeeper-batters to smash the most Test centuries. Both Pant and Dhoni have six centuries in the long format. If Team India vice-captain Rishabh Pant smashes a century in the upcoming series, he will become the first Indian wicketkeeper-batter to hammer the most centuries in Test cricket.
Where to Watch England vs India First Test in India?
Indian viewers can enjoy England vs India First Test at Sony Liv app and Sony Sports Network.
