Nitish vs Shardul, not Arshdeep

The Indian Cricket team will launch its 2025/27 world test world championship cycle will face England during the 1st test in Headingley, Leeds on June 20. The series will mark the start of a new era for men in blue under the captain of Shubman Gill after the departure of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Gill and Gambhir had some time to think about their XI for the 1st test, but are always faced with certain selection headaches.

India planned to play XI for the 1st test

On the bench: Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Abhimanyu Easwan, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar

Nitish at Pip Shardul?

Nitish Kumar Reddy is likely to be chosen in the Xi Playing for the 1st test in front of Shardul Thakur. The two versatile was a good success, with Bat and Ball, in India a series against the Lions of England.

In the two unofficial tests, Reddy scored half a century and picked up two counters. On the other hand, Thakur also put a few counters in bags and recorded a highest score of 34. In the training match between India A and India, Shardul managed to score an invaincu shot of 122 points and was among the hints of the window, which can extract a certain movement from the surface.

While Thakur can surely be a boost for the Bowling attack from India, the team should prefer Nitish instead to strengthen its striker. Make no mistake, Shardul is no stranger to the stick in England. He has three fifty of four tests which he has played so far in England, the last to come in 2023.

The series against England will be the first time that Nitish will play in the United Kingdom. He made his debut earlier in the series against Australia and also marked a hundred gravelly.

So, it may not be a form compared to the experience that will determine if Nitish or Shardul will go to the XI. It will rather depend if India wants to focus on the dough which can also be Bown instead of being the opposite in order to have a deep programming in the stick.

Krishna in, Arshdeep Out

The attack on India’s rhythm will be led by their best bowling player Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj, the second most overworked launcher in the previous calendar year, will play the second violin. As for the third shop, Prasidh Krishna is expected to cut before Arshdeep Singh, which means that the Southpaw will have to wait for its test.

Krishna was in the form of her life recently, after having ended as the highest standards of the IPL 2025. During his last test (against Australia in Sydney), he finished with 6 counters in his name despite an appearance in the test after what was almost a year.

Arshdeep, on the other hand, could be very useful for India because it can lead the ball to swing in both directions. However, Krishna is more experienced in terms of red ball cricket game and should therefore be chosen in the XI of play in front of Arshdeep.

Top Six at point

KL Rahul is likely to replace Rohit Sharma as a new opening match of India in tests. After all, he is no stranger to the striker in this position and tasted success while hitting at the top of the Order. He will be crucial for Jaiswal and him to click collectively so as not to expose the average order too quickly in the game.

Captain Gill will continue at number 3 while Karun Nair, who will return after 7 years, will be the new number 4 of India, replacing Virat Kohli. Rishabh Pant will come to five followed by Nitish and Jadeja.