Indian cricket has ‘enormous’ pool of talent: Ben Stokes on ‘young’ India squad for England series

Leeds [UK], June 19 (ANI): England Test skipper Ben Stokes heaped praise on the Indian youngsters in the squad and called the current Indian bunch of talent “enormous" ahead of the first Test of the five-match series at Headingley from Friday.

India will kick off its World Test Championship cycle with five Tests in England, scheduled to begin on June 20 at Headingley. After India’s star players, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin, retired from the Test format, India is bereft of experience in the five Tests against England. The management has included a couple of young faces to fill in the void.

Speaking on the Indian youngsters during the pre-match press conference, Stokes said, “There’s been a lot said about no Rohit, no Virat and no Ashwin. That doesn’t mean we think it will be any easier than it ever is against India. The pool of talent that Indian cricket has is just enormous. Although Virat, Rohit and Ashwin have done amazing things for their country on the field, that doesn’t mean that whoever comes in to replace those individuals are going to be any less hard to bowl at or bat against just because of how big the pool of talent is in India."

“We’ve obviously spent a lot of time at the IPL, so I know there’s a lot of it. But yeah, obviously three massive names, three people who have done wonderful things for their country, but it won’t be easy for us because those three big names aren’t here," he added.

Some of the youngsters will be seen in action during the England tour will be left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, middle-order batter Sai Sudarshan, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, Test captain Shubman Gill, and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Arshdeep Singh earned his maiden call-up in India’s Test fold after impressing in the T20I fold and becoming the nation’s leading wicket-taker in the shortest format. Arshdeep has experience playing in England, considering his past exploits in the County Championship. After a 17-wicket campaign in the IPL 2023, he signed for Kent and scalped 13 wickets from five matches.

Sai Sudarshan earned his maiden Test call-up after impressing in the domestic format with his scorching stroke play in the Ranji Trophy. He then topped it up during his stint with Gujarat Titans and carved out 759 runs in 15 matches at an average of 54.21.

Dhruv Jurel has consistently delivered in India’s domestic circuit for the past year. He impressed with his sensational performance and scored 333 runs for the Rajasthan Royals. He played in the two unofficial Tests for India A against England Lions and registered scores of 94, 53*, 52 and 28.

Shubman Gill, will have the spotlight on him as he takes up his first assignment since being appointed as Rohit Sharma’s successor. He has played three Tests in England and has struck 88 runs at 14.66.

Yashasvi Jaiswal will make his first appearance for India in England in the Test format. He has impressed previously on his previous tour of the West Indies and Australia. He will hope to maintain his splendid overseas form against England. He featured for India A against England Lions in two unofficial Tests and registered scores of 24, 64, 17, and 5.

India tour of England will take place from June to August 2025, with matches to be played at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).

A new era beckons for India in the Test format as the modern-day giants gear up for their first assignment without the prized batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Shubman Gill, India’s youngest Test captain, has taken the baton from Rohit to guide the nation to success and challenge for the World Test Championship mace.

India squad for England Test series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

England on Wednesday announced its playing XI for the opening Test of the five-match series against India, which will kick off on June 20 at Headingley.

For the opening Test, England has retained the majority of the XI they fielded against Zimbabwe during the one-off Test last month. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will open for England, followed by Ollie Pope at number three.

England Playing XI for the 1st Test against India: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)

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