India’s Test team underwent significant alterations with the announcement of the roster for the next tour of England on Saturday. An 18-man Indian team was selected by BCCI top selector Ajit Agarkar for the crucial five-match series, which kicks off on June 20.

Rohit Sharma has been replaced as India’s Test captain by Shubman Gill, while Rishabh Pant will serve as the team’s vice-captain in the longest format. With icons like Virat Kohli, Rohit, and Ravichandran Ashwin retiring, the Indian squad is about to go through a significant transition period and face new obstacles.

Gill is the 37th captain of India’s national side in the game’s longest format. He made his Test debut for India back in 2020 at Australia. Having played in 32 Test matches for India, the 25-year-old has amassed 1893 runs at an average of 35.06, with five hundreds and seven fifties.

India’s campaign in the new World Test Championship 2025–27 cycle starts with the Test series in England, and they will be hoping to create an impression in the big assignment. After the back-to-back series losses, India was unable to go to their third consecutive WTC final. They will be coming off a loss in their last Test match, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, going into the England series.

India lost the five-match series 3-1 against Australia after losing the whitewash Test series 0-3 against New Zealand at home. In addition to receiving a great deal of criticism, the worrying decline in Test matches necessitated several significant decisions and side adjustments.

India’s squad changes from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Up to 13 players from the team that competed in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy were retained by the BCCI. Six players were pulled out of the team for the England trip, while five new faces were included.

KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal are among the players that were retained.

Players not in the Test squad
Virat Kohli (Retired), Tanush Kotian (Injured), Sarfaraz Khan (Dropped), Harshit Rana (Dropped), Rohit Sharma (Retired), and Ravichandran Ashwin (Retired)

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav are the players of India for the Test series against England.