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Karun Nair, who has a triple century to his name in Test cricket, is part of India’s 18-member squad picked for a five-match series against England.
Sanjay Bangar predicts India’s playing XI for series against England. (Picture Credit: PTI, AFP, Instagram)
The Indian men’s cricket team will face England in a five-match Test series. The series opener will be played at Headingley in Leeds from June 20 to 24, and the next four matches are scheduled to take place in Birmingham, Lord’s, Manchester, and The Oval. Shubman Gill will lead India in the first away series of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be his deputy.
For the high-voltage series in England, Indian selectors picked an 18-member squad on May 24, which includes the likes of Karun Nair, Shardul Thakur, Sai Sudharsan, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav, among other Test regulars.
Ahead of the series opener, former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar has picked India’s likely playing XI.
In his team, Bangar included Abhimanyu Easwaran as a No. 3 batter over the likes of Sai Sudharsan and mentioned Karun Nair’s name at six. There was, however, no place for Shardul Thakur, who scored a fifty for India in his last Test played on English soil, or world No. 1 Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
“My team is Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran at No. 3, Shubman Gill at No. 4, Rishabh Pant at No. 5, Karun Nair at No. 6, Nitish Kumar Reddy at No. 7, Kuldeep Yadav at No. 8, and then three seamers: Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah,” Bangar told Jio Hotstar.
Bangar, who played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs for India during his three-year-long international career, explained the reason for picking Nitish Reddy ahead of Shardul by saying that the young cricketer from Andhra is a batter who can bowl.
“I see Nitish as a batter who can bowl. I can’t see him as a bowler who can bat. However, Nitish starts in my team ahead of Shardul. Shardul doesn’t play in my first XI. “Nitish Reddy will play first,” Bangar said.
Nitish made his Test debut for India against Australia in Perth on November 22, 2025, and played all five matches of the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the Boxing Day Test played against the Baggy Greens at Melbourne Cricket Ground last year, Nitish scored his maiden Test century for Team India, but he was horribly out of form for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2025.
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