For the forthcoming five-match Test series against England, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has selected his preferred 16-man squad, notably leaving out Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy. India’s red-ball team will start a new season following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, with the official announcement scheduled for May 24.
India will start a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with the England series, which begins on June 20. Rebuilding the team and choosing a new Test captain are difficult tasks for the national selectors. The most significant absence from Jaffer’s team is the exclusion of Sudharsan.
The left-hander is considered to be among the nation’s most technically talented young batters and has been in outstanding form in the 2025 Indian Premier League. Jaffer chose to use India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran as a backup opener in addition to KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite his outstanding achievements for the Gujarat Titans and in the domestic circuit.
In the meantime, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s exclusion also attracted notice. Earlier this year, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the youthful all-rounder made an impression in his first Test series, especially with the bat. Jaffer’s choice, nevertheless, might have been impacted by his recent performance in the IPL 2025 while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he struggled. The two first-class matches against the England Lions feature both of them in the India A squad, which is noteworthy.
View the tweet from Wasim Jaffer below:
My India squad for Eng tour:
1. Yashasvi
2. KL
3. Shubman (vc)
4. Iyer/Karun
5. Pant (wk)
6. Jadeja
7. Shardul
8. Kuldeep
9. Shami
10. Bumrah (c)
11. Siraj
12. Easwaran
13. Jurel (wk)
14. Sarfaraz
15. Arshdeep/Prasiddh/Akashdeep
16. WashingtonWhat’s yours?#ENGvIND
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) May 22, 2025
Additionally, the former selected Shubman Gill as the vice-captain and Jasprit Bumrah as the new Test skipper. Gill, however, is reportedly expected to be selected as the next Test captain. Wasim Jaffer, however, seems to value Bumrah’s background in leading India abroad.
He has also chosen Washington Sundar over Axar Patel as a spinning all-rounder and added players like Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair to bolster the middle order. Jaffer has selected the young Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep as backup pacers in addition to the seasoned Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj.
Wasim Jaffer’s England series team:
Karun Nair/Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (C), Mohammed Siraj, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh/Prasidh Krishna/Akash Deep, and KL Rahul.
Home