Former cricketer has been appointed as the head coach of the India A team for their upcoming tour of England as announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on May 16. The team will play three four-day matches in England, including one against the India Senior team upon their arrival in the United Kingdom post the Indian Premier League 2025 culminates.

Kanitkar will be accompanied in the coaching staff by Subhadeep Ghosh from Assam, as the fielding coach, and Troy Cooley, who has been appointed as the bowling coach. The India A squad is expected to leave for England in batches on May 25 and 26.

The tour will begin with a four-day first-class match against the England Lions at Canterbury, starting on May 30. The second four-day match will be held in Northampton from June 6. After these matches, India A will play a closed door game against the India Senior team in Beckenham from June 13 to 16. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan are expected to join the India A squad ahead of the second match against the England Lions.

The Senior team is set to be selected in the last week of May. While the initial selection date was May 23, it has been postponed due to the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and the final squad will now be announced later. The Senior team is scheduled to depart for England on June 6, which is nearly two weeks before the first Test, and begins on June 20 at Headingley.

There were speculations directing at Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir travelling early to England, but with Kanitkar's appointment, the 42-year-old is now expected to accompany the team as per the regular schedule. India are set to play five Test matches on this tour. After the first Test at Headingley, the remaining matches will be played at Birmingham (from July 2), Lord’s (from July 10), Manchester (from July 23), and The Oval (from July 31).

Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (VC) (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey