India will begin the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-2027 with a five-match Test series in England. India will be heartbroken after they missed out on a place in the WTC 2025 final.

They were well on the way to reach the third consecutive final, but a shock 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home and a 3-1 drubbing to Australia knocked them out.India will be eyeing a fresh start in England, but beating the hosts won't be easy. India's last series win in England was in 2007 when Rahul Dravid led the team to a 1-0 win. On the previous tour, India played terrific cricket and took a 2-1 lead, however, they lost the final Test and the opportunity to claim a rare series win.England are not the toughest team to beat, but India also have a lot of issues to deal with.

The form of senior batters like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and the fitness of gun pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are major concerns for India. It will also be very important for BCCI to pick a balanced squad so that they have multiple options to test if Plan A doesn't work.

India's Likely Squad For England Tests

There were talks of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma being dropped from the Test side; however, with BCCI handing them an A+ contract, it is almost confirmed they will be on the flight to England.

Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the other two top-order batters in the squad. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant will be the wicket-keeping options, while Nitish Reddy should be the fast bowling all-rounder. Dhruv Jurel should be able to hold on to his place as well, however, Sarfaraz Khan might be dropped despite not getting a game in Australia. India can instead opt for Shreyas Iyer, who has been in good form. R Ashwin is retired, so Kuldeep Yadav will be the lead spinner, with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar for company. Rohit is expected to lead the side, but he may not play all Tests if he endures a poor outing in the first few games. In that case, Jasprit Bumrah or Shubman Gill can be asked to lead. Despite the fitness concerns of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, the two should be the frontline pacers for the visitors. Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, and possibly Bhuvneshwar Kumar could also make it to the squad. India Likely Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana