🏏India tour of England 2025: 1st Test: England vs India - Day 5🏏 - Page 3

What will conditions be like? All reports point to it being a very dry English summer and that's going to translate to fairly dry pitches. While early looks at the Headingley surface suggested that it will be a green top, that's only likely to last up until the end of Day 2 at most. Just like we saw during the WTC Final at Lord's just a few days ago, the toss is likely to play a crucial part. With there being moisture and live grass to start with, it should aid the bowlers before drying out, flattening and become all round much more friendlier to bat on heading into days 3 and 4 - just like we saw at Lord's.

There's a freshly minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in contention and we want to hear from you, who do you think will be the inaugural winners? What do you think the scoreline will be at the end of this series and why? Go ahead, use the Have Your Say feature available on the desktop website and tell us.

While this series is going to undoubtedly be a stiff challenge for Shubman Gill as captain, it's also going to be one for Gautam Gambhir who's had a rather tumultuous start to his career as India's head coach, particularly in the red-ball format. His tenure began with India's historic loss to New Zealand, followed by India losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia before seeing a series of high-profile retirements. Now, Gambhir has a young team at his disposal, a side that he not only can, but must, mould into the next generation of superstars for judgement time is nigh.

IND vs ENG, 1st Test Match: Rahane puts his hopes on Yashasvi Jaiswal

Ajinkya Rahane is backing the flamboyant Yashasvi Jaiswal to shine on the tour of England thanks to his ability to perform multiple roles as opener.

"Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing Yashasvi Jaiswal do well because opening the batting in England is really important," Rahane said in a video on his YouTube channel.

"He has the game for it — he can control one end and also go on the attack when needed. So I'm really looking forward to seeing Jaiswal perform in England."

What does Karun Nair say ahead of his probable comeback in India's playing XI?

"I try to keep it very simple, always think about the positive, have certain goals in mind, visualize things and have real belief in what you visualize.

"Playing alongside Rahul and Prasidh is also a very comforting factor. We've played cricket for so many years since probably we were young kids and grew up together," Karun told BCCI in a video posted on its website.

Karun and Rahul, both 33, have played age-group cricket together and have been close friends since then.

"Life has come a full circle because I went out of the team in England and now I am coming back into the team in England. It's been a while and I embrace that."

He was dropped from the Indian team in 2017.

"My first thought when I woke up (after being dropped) was I want to play Test cricket, I want to play for India again. That's probably what kept me going, kept me hungry and was the driving force to train and practice everyday.

"I had a goal to play Test cricket again. Everyday, every morning I used to wake up thinking what should I do to reach that goal. Never losing that belief and having that target to reach was something that helped me," he added.

In the 2024–25 domestic season, Karun amassed 863 runs in nine matches at an average of 54, helping Vidarbha clinch their third Ranji Trophy title.

The season revived his Test career as he made his return to the Indian Test side for the tour of England.

"Mentally I am more patient and I am more forgiving of myself. I have learnt to enjoy small things a little more and also not trying to be not someone that I am not. I have tried to keep it very simple. I always think about positives, have certain goals in mind, visualise things and have real belief," Karun said.

"Feeling honoured to wear this jersey and honoured to be representing my country."

Karun said the realisation of making the Indian team again came to him when he met the touring group.

"When I saw everyone for the first time that time I realised I am finally in the team, till then it was a wait for me to start feeling I have made it again," he said.

"It's been a few years, I used to watch everyone on TV and to be back again in this dressing room feels amazing."

"I enjoy the feeling with everyone, enjoy the feeling of wearing this jersey, just going out there and having fun with everyone in the group and trying our best to win games for our country."

Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja during a nets session at Headingley (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

India begins a new era in Test cricket without stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin as they prepare for their series opener against England at Headingley on Friday. The young squad, led by newly appointed captain Shubman Gill, aims to reclaim their dominance in the red-ball format after recent setbacks against New Zealand and Australia.

The Indian team faces a significant transition period ..

Read more at:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/121968969.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Sai Sudharsan to make his Test debut!

Well it's almost official now. Sai Sudharsan has been handed his debut Test cap in the Indian team huddle.

The special June 20 debutants

India have had some very special debutants on this particular day, June 20, within the last three days. June 20 of 1996 witnessed the Test debuts of two Indian stalwarts in Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, incidentally also in England. Fifteen years later, India saw the arrival of a young Virat Kohli in the Test whites against West Indies in Sabina Park. All three of them went on to play 100-plus Tests for India and also captain the side. Are a few more special debuts slated for the afternoon today?

ENG vs IND Live Score, 1st Test Day 1: Stats watch

Here's a look at key milestones ahead of the first Test

• Shubman Gill needs 107 Runs to complete 2000 Test runs
• Rishabh Pant needs 52 Runs to complete 3000 Test Runs.
• Joe Root needs 3 more catches to surpass Rahul Dravid as the most successful Test fielder
• Jasprit Bumrah needs 2 wickets to surpass Wasim Akram as the most successful pacer in SENA

1st Test Day 1: Why the front-foot defense matters in England, Tendulkar explains

Tendulkar exhorted the Indian batters to firm up their front-foot defence in England as one of the primary requirements of the job on tour.

"In England, focus a lot on front-foot defense against fast bowlers because the tendency is to get your hands away from the body on pitches where there is not much action off the surface. But in England, if your hands start going away from the body, especially with a vertical bat – horizontal bat shots you still can – the bowler is winning that battle," Tendulkar said in an Indian Express interview.

"The front foot defense becomes critical in the initial part of the innings, but don’t go out with a defensive mindset. You could defend positively, so run-scoring opportunities should not be missed and when you go in with a defensive mindset, it reflects on your footwork," he added.

Keshav: I think the score line will be 3-1 in favor of England, pertaining inexperience batting lineup of India. As seen in the case of SENA countries, bowlers will take 20 wickets but batting should come to shore in order to win the series.

Sunit Sihag: India will win the first match at Headingley, scoreline at the end of this series will be 3-1 in favor of India. And if that happens, Gill will establish himself as new generation star and silence all his critics.

Satya Prakash sethi: English batters have struggled against quality spin, subcontinent-style pitches or dry tracks that offer turn. India having two world-class spinners who are not only capable of maintaining control but also consistently taking wickets in the middle overs. It will be interesting to see the match.

Here's Kaushik with another interesting observation, "At the far end of the ground, we have the slip cordon in practice again
Pant (wk)
Nair (1st)
KL (2nd)
Jaiswal (Gully)
It'll be interesting to see if Gill stays in the cordon as he'd been practising in the days leading into today. Or if he is the captain that wants to be at mid-on, mid-off".