Ahead of India's five-match Test series against England starting on June 20, the Indian 'A' team will tour the country and get acclimatized to conditions by playing two first-class matches from May 30. The first match will be played at the Spitfire Ground, St. Lawrence in Canterbury. The second first-class game will be played from June 6 at the County Ground in Northampton.
According to a report by Press Trust of India, Karun Nair is likely to be picked in the squad. The right-hand batter is in the form of his life in all formats of the game in the domestic tournaments. Nair, who is also one of only two Indians to score a triple hundred is looking to play for India after he last played a Test in 2017. Incidentally, he also scored a triple-hundred against England in the 2016 series.
The same report also states that several players could be featured in the two first-class games. However, it is to be noted that there will only be a five days gap between first Test and IPL 2025 final. With senior players set to spend two months in England for the five-match series, they are likely to be rested for the first-class games.
However, the likes of Shubman Gill who is woefully out of form in Test cricket, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is yet to play international cricket in England, might play those two practice Test matches.
Ruturaj Gaikwad likely to be named skipper for India A tour of England
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who led the team against Australia A recently, will likely lead India A this time around also. Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, and Dhruv Jurel are likely to be included in the squad. Shreyas Iyer is also likely to be named in the squad after his stellar returns across formats in domestic cricket.
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Bowling will likely feature the likes of Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Kishore, Tanush Kotian, Akash Deep and Harhit Rana. All these players barring Thakur were part of the Australia Test series.
India 'A' Likely Squad For Series vs England Lions: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Yashavi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Karun Nair Ishan Kishan, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Tanush Kotian, R Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar, Shadul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Mukesh Kumar
