India XI For 1st Test In Leeds: After a gruelingly long IPL season, the Indian players have returned to red-ball action by playing against England Lions recently as they prepared for the upcoming five-match Test series against England.
India, who were the runners-up of the first two ICC WTC cycles, failed to reach the final of the 2023-25 cycle. India and England both will start their journey in the ICC WTC 2025-27 cycle with this series.
While England will continue under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and their Bazball mantra, India will begin a new era in Test cricket following the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and R Ashwin.
Shubman Gill is the new Test skipper, with Rishabh Pant named his deputy. The squad for England features new names in the Test side like Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh, while it also sees the return of Karun Nair to the Test squad after seven years.
It has been said by head coach Gautam Gambhir that Jasprit Bumrah will be playing in three out of five Tests due to workload management. India are also without Mohammed Shami for the entire series. India have dropped Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana.
Let us pick the predicted India XI for the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, which will start on June 20.
India vs England Test Series 2025: India XI For 1st Test In Leeds – Predicted
Seven names in the XI pick themselves. They are Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj. Gill, the new skipper, is likely to slot in the No. 4 role vacated by Kohli.
Sai Sudharsan is likely to make his Test debut in the first India vs England Test. He is coming off an IPL season where he won the Orange Cap, and is hailed for his solid technique and temperament.
Karun Nair, who last played for India in 2017 and was on the bench for the entire of the 2018 England tour before being dropped, could now get a chance in the Test XI once again. He scored a double century recently against England Lions.
Nair’s comeback to the squad was due to his terrific domestic seasons in recent years. In the 2024-25 season for Vidarbha, he scored 863 runs at an average of 53 and also hit five centuries in eight innings of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He has also played 10 County Championship games, amassing 736 runs at 56.
Coming to the bowling department, the third seamer after Bumrah and Siraj is likely to be Prasidh Krishna. Akash Deep has been impressive, but his skillset is similar to Siraj’s, and Krishna offers the ability to get extra bounce. Krishna is coming off a Purple Cap-winning IPL season.
The one remaining slot (No. 8) in the lineup could go to either Nitish Kumar Reddy, a batting all-rounder; or Shardul Thakur, a seam-bowling all-rounder; or Kuldeep Yadav, the X-factor left-arm wrist-spinner; or Washington Sundar, an off-spinning all-rounder.
This selection will be a huge headache for the captain and management. It will be made considering various factors like the confidence they have in the batting of the top 7; how much workload the front three seamers can take; and, importantly, the pitch and weather conditions.
India vs England Test Series 2025: India XI For 1st Test In Leeds – Predicted
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy/Shardul Thakur/Kuldeep Yadav/Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
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