On Saturday, May 24, India announced their new-age Test squad that would be travelling to England for a much-anticipated five-Test series, starting from June 20 in Leeds.
Leading the team would be Shubman Gill, who will have big shoes to fill in both — the leadership role and with the bat, potentially taking over at number four, replacing Virat Kohli.
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In what is otherwise an inexperienced batting order with the likes players like Sai Sudharsan and possibly Nitish Kumar Reddy, India appears to lack an experienced player in the middle order.
Case in point, Shreyas Iyer, who did not make the cut for the team, was one of the options discussed before the announcement. See what the chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, had to say about Iyer's exclusion.
Why is Shreyas Iyer not picked for India's tour of England?
On being asked about Iyer's potential place in the scheme of things for the Test side, the former India bowler spoke to the press about his impressive domestic performances, however, it was tough to get him in the 18-man squad.
When one of the journalists pressed Agarkar, saying that Iyer had performed well in Ranji Trophy and in other domestic cricket formats, he said that the batter will be considered only for One Day International (ODI) series.
"Yeah, Shreyas Iyer has played well in domestic cricket as well, but at the moment, there is no room for him in the Test team. If he keeps doing what he is doing, then he might find a spot at some stage," he said.
The management went ahead with picking Karun Nair as the middle order option over Iyer and another Mumbai batter — Sarfaraz Khan who had around the squad for over a year and also toured Australia.
Addressing it, Agarkar spoke about Nair's experience in County cricket and Virat Kohli's retirement, creating a void of experience in the middle order.
"Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test and then didn't get runs. Sometimes it's the decisions the team management takes. At the moment, Karun has scored heaps of runs in domestic cricket, has played a bit of Test cricket, played a bit of county cricket."
"With Virat not there, clearly we're lacking a bit of experience. We felt his experience could help," he added.
How has Shreyas Iyer performed in Test cricket?
Iyer, who last played a Test against England in Visakhapatnam in 2024, has 811 runs in 14 Test matches at an average of 36.86 while scoring a century and 5 fifties.
His notable Test match came against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2022, where he got 87(105) in the first innings and a crucial 29*(46) in a 145-run chase, where he won India the match alongside Ravichandran Ashwin from 74/7 at a point.
| Matches | Innings | Runs | Avg | 50/100 | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 24 | 811 | 36.86 | 5/1 | 105 |
What is India's squad for England Test Tour 2025?
Following is the squad selected by Ajit Agarkar and co. for the five-match series in England.
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Rishabh Pant (wk) (vc)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- KL Rahul
- Abhimanyu Easwaran
- Sai Sudharsan
- Karun Nair
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- Washington Sundar
- Shardul Thakur
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
- Prasidh Krishna
- Akash Deep
- Arshdeep Singh
- Kuldeep Yadav