The Indian cricket team’s next assignment is a five-match Test series against England on the latter’s home soil. The series will kick off on June 20, around a month after the ongoing Indian Premier League ends. It will be a crucial outing as India will begin their next World Test Championship cycle. A report emerged ahead of India’s Test series vs England reveals that the side will not play any County team to prepare itself for the matches. India will rather play with India ‘A’ to gear up for the games against England.
The report was shared by Cricbuzz, which also stated that the Indian team decided not to have the broadcast for the game and also hold it behind closed doors.
All eyes will be on veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli when India tour England for the five-match Test series. Both the players are heading towards the dusk of their career. Some reports even claimed that Rohit’s participation in the tournament will depend on the form he maintains during IPL 2025.
Rohit, a modern-day icon in the white-ball cricket, has lost his charm and purple patch across all formats. After bringing the curtain down on his T20I career on a memorable note, the seasoned opener’s bat has resorted to silence.
During India’s historic 3-0 home series whitewash against New Zealand, the fiery opener, who has lost his flamboyance, contributed just 91 runs across three Test matches, averaging 15.17.
Even before the series loss against the Kiwis, when India faced Bangladesh, the dynamic opener amassed a mere 42 runs in two Test matches while averaging just 10.50.
Following a forgettable run at home, Rohit’s performance sparked criticism after his shambolic display in Tests in Australia, India’s most recent Test outing. In five innings during the series, Rohit had only 31 runs to show at an abysmal average of 6.20.
Meanwhile, Virat, who could just make 190 runs in 10 innings during the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, was among players who came under scrutiny after the 1-3 series loss to Australia.
Virat ended the last year with just 655 international runs in 23 matches and 32 innings, averaging 21.83, with a century and two fifties to his name. His best score was 100*.
However, Virat and Rohit are set to continue their A+ grade BCCI central contract list for 2025-26, while Shreyas Iyer is expected to return to the list, reported ANI.
“Rohit and Virat will continue their A+ grade central contract (7 crore) even after retiring from T20I format. They are big players and will be accorded the respect they deserve. Shreyas Iyer is all set to be back in central contract,” the agency quoted BCCI sources.
(With ANI Inputs)
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