A PTI report on Tuesday night suggested that Indian wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha is about to announce his retirement from international cricket. Moreover, he has also opted out of the Bengal Ranji Trophy squad as well. The report suggested that Indian cricket management has informed that they are considering Saha for the home series against Sri Lanka. This lead us to name the 10 unluckiest Indian cricketers who could have been more successful if played in a different era.

When a general of great talent and courage was recommended to him, Napoleon would always ask "Is he lucky?"

Now the five-letter word 'luck' has become pretty significant in Indian cricket. India is a huge country with a population of 138 crores and two things are mostly discussed- Bollywood and Cricket. If anyone goes through the maidans across the country, he/she can trace almost one crore young kids are there for playing the game and want to make it professional. Amongst this crore, making it to the final eleven of the country is one of the toughest jobs. Some cricketers are lucky enough as their hard work paid off and the dreams came true while there are another group of people who does all the hard work and other necessary things to do but that four-letter word 'luck' does cruelty to them.

Read Also: 10 most underrated test cricketers of all time

Now, this article focuses on those who were highly eligible for getting a long go in the blue jersey but their luck factor was always against them.

Top 10 Unluckiest Indian cricketers

#1 Robin Uthappa

Inspite of scoring runs heavily at the domestic level and IPL, Robin Uthappa was not lucky enough to serve the Indian team for a long time.

Scoring 1230 runs in his first 31 list A games at an average of 39 helped him earn his Indian ODI cap on 15th November 2006. On that very day, he scored a valiant 86 opening the innings against a bowling attack comprising James Anderson, Liam Plunkett. His score helped India to pass the required 289 runs expanding just 3 wickets. Followed by a 70 against Westindies and later he performed well while touring England post 2007 world cup. He went on to hit a scoop of Stuart Broad and played a walking shot which earned him the name 'walking assassin' on the course of chasing 317 at The Oval. After that, his decline at the international level started as he became a complete failure in the CB series 2008 and the Asia cup that year.

Read Also: Ranji Trophy 2022: Ajinkya Rahane to play under Prithvi Shaw in Mumbai team, says I have no issues

After performing hugely in domestic maintaining 51+ batting average from 2011-14 and IPL and getting the orange cap in 2014, he was again called back in the side. He scored a fine half-century on his comeback against Bangladesh. Although, after that, he never scored more than 40 in any of the 7 innings he played.

Considering all sorts of failure at International Level and Success at the domestic level he could've been given a go in the squad. In addition, the presence of someone like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli in top order and MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh in the middle never helped him too much to get a cemented place in the final eleven.

#2 Ambati Rayudu

It was a fine afternoon of 15 April of 2019 when the Indian Squad for the twelfth world cup at England. The only anomaly which arose was Vijay Shankar was selected ahead of Ambati Thirupati Rayudu in the squad as the selectors wanted a 3D prospect. When he was given chances regularly from 2018 to February 2019, he scored 639 runs at an average of 42.60 and was team's fourth-highest run-getter in that period. Still, it was really a disappointment for him not to get a place in the first fifteen. Furthermore, later when Shikhar Dhawan was injured he was not called even then.

Read Also: Hardik Pandya to skip Ranji trophy wants to focus on white-ball cricket

Ambati Rayudu has been one of the prolific performers in domestic cricket since the start of his career in 2001-02 both in the red ball and White ball. Specially in white-ball, he has maintained an average of 50 in many of the seasons after his century against Goa way back in 2002. He did well touring England in 2003 for A team and scored a magnificent century followed by a half-century in red-ball format and scored a half-century in white-ball format. However, he slipped from the mainstream of Indian Cricket after joining the rebel ICL tournament. After coming back in 2009, Rayudu made some valuable runs in every season till 2013 when he got the opportunity to wear the Indian blue jersey.

He then performed well to get a call up in the 2015 ODI world cup squad but didn't get a game, unfortunately. And inspite of performing heavily he was ignored from the 2019 world cup squad and he decided to retire from international cricket.

In the case of Ambati Rayudu, the selection committee was really unfair by a fair margin.

#3 Parthiv Patel

Although the wicket-keeper from Gujarat has played 31 test matches in the Indian jersey, he deserved more matches to play. During his early days, Parthiv was brilliant behind the stumps as well as with the bat in age group levels. And this earned him the 244th test cap of India at Nottingham against England.

With the bat, he scored a match-saving 19 in the second innings of his debut Test. After that, he became a regular member of the Indian test side till 2004 and in that period he had maintained close to 32 batting average with 4 half-centuries in the 19 test matches he played. Afterwards, he got an opportunity to break in the final eleven after 4 years in 2008 against Colombo and was left out of the team again.

Read Also: Arjun Tendulkar named in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy squad, Prithvi Shaw to lead

After scoring vigorously in domestic cricket he got the opportunity again in the Indian side in England tour and scored 195 runs in 4 innings which seemed to be pretty good. And later failure in South Africa in 2018 ensured that Parthiv's career in the Indian jersey was over.

In that time, he helped Gujarat to win Ranji Trophy after captaining the side in 2017 and scored 1110 runs at a whopping 50.45 average! However, the presence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha as glovesmen shattered Parthiv's career.

#4 Manoj Tiwary

It is very common to see the ex-Bengal captain to see in this list. Starting from the age-group level Manoj Tiwary maintained 52 average in Coachbehar Trophy, 52.33 average in MA Chidambaram Trophy and earned man of the match award in his U-19 test debut against England.

Then in Ranji trophy, he had achieved the record of scoring 500 and above runs in every season from 2006-07 to 2019-20 with amazing consistency and did well in tour matches in Australia in 2014. However, he got still ignored for the National side which you can call a shame.

Read Also: "I had planned to play 200 balls", U19 cricketer Abishek Porel shares his success-mantra

He is famous for being dropped in the International side after scoring a sensational century against West Indies at Chennai. Afterwards, he scored 65 and took 4 wickets against Srilanka in 2012 and was a part of 2012 T20 World Cup but didn't get a single game. After that, a string of low scores against Zimbabwe in 2015 closed the door of National Side for Tiwary. Tiwary could have been a long stay in the Indian middle-order unless he was one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers.

287 runs from 12 ODI innings at 26.09 average marked the end of a valiant junior batsman who once stepped out against Zaheer Khan in Ranji final to go for a lofted shot.

#5 Subramaniam Badrinath

Hailing from Tamilnadu, Badrinath was a prolific run-getter since his debut. He played first-class matches for three state teams namely Tamilnadu, Vidarbha and Hyderabad. For Tamilnadu, he has a 56.99 first-class batting average which is pretty good if one looks at the Indian first-class structure. Also, Badrinath has a batting average of 213 for the India A team in the 9 innings he had represented.

Read Also: Indian Cricket News: Fans slams selectors as "biggest clowns" for "ruining careers"

From 2005-06 Badrinath proved to be a stalwart of the domestic circuit. Badrinath averaged 124.61 throughout 7 consecutive seasons. That led him to his international debut against South Africa in Nagpur in June 2010. On his debut, he scored a fine half-century but failed in the other two innings.

He is one of those Indian cricketers who have won the man of the match in their T20 debut. Later Badrinath failed to break into the National team due to the presence of Virat Kohli and many others.

#6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla

A hard-hitting batsman and a handy bowler, Laxmi Ratan Shukla would've been one of the mainstays of the Indian Cricket team during the decade of the 2000s. Even after that decade, India tried a lot of all-rounders who were skillfully inferior to Shukla. Therefore, he remains as one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers who could have been successful in a different era.

Shukla was a prominent hard hitter who was ready to bat at any position. He first rose to the selector's attention when he scored a blistering 136 against Delhi in the Wills Trophy semifinal back in 1999 against the likes of Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and Rahul Sanghvi. He also played a tennis shot against Debashis Mohanty who was then an Indian side player in the Orissa match.

After playing just 8 List A matches Shukla was given his ODI cap. However, he failed to create any impression on his debut. He was tonked by Lankan batsmen in his debut and in his final ODI he got his only International wicket in the form of James Adams and registered his highest score of 13.

In the Srilanka test in the year 1999, Shukla had a chance to make his debut but management had other plans as Ashish Nehra was handed the cap ahead of him. Even after scoring 6217 runs and taking 172 wickets at first-class level and 2997 runs and 143 wickets at List A level, he was ignored and his dream of representing India got doomed at an age of just 18.

#7 Jalaj Saxena

Jalaj Saxena has been a very effective allrounder and also a silent performer. He has represented Madhyapradesh and Kerala state team where he batted at every position from opening to 7 or 8.

A good allrounder with a 35 batting average and 27 List A bowling average could've been a good inclusion to the side and also could've been a replacement of someone like Ravichandran Ashwin. Although he was ignored inspite of consistent performances which makes him one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers form the domestic circuit.

#8 Vinay Kumar

Ranganath Vinay Kumar with 504 wickets besides his name is one of the strong contenders on this list of unluckiest Indian cricketers. He played almost 15 seasons in KSCA jersey and one in Puducherry jersey.

As a highly skilful bowler, he took 50 wickets twice in the Ranji trophy and 47 wickets once. He along with Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Arvind constituted the most formidable bowling attack in the Indian domestic circuit. After this fine performance, he was given a chance to make his Test debut against Australia at Perth in 2011-12 where he failed miserably after taking the wicket of Michael Hussey.

The Wicket of Michael Hussey remained his only test wicket as he never got a chance to play again in Indian Jersey. Later Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah came afterwards and cemented the spot in the team.

#9 Ashok Dinda

Furious fast bowler Ashok Dinda rose to fame when he performed blisteringly for the Bengal side from 2006-07 and was close to getting his test cap at the 2012 Nagpur test against England. However, due to a turning track, team management decided to play four spinners with one pacer Ishant Sharma.

Ashok Dinda took 59 wickets that season at an bowling average of 19 which forced the selectors to think about him. He bowled well in list A and T20 levels too. His speed amd accuracy made batters look uncomfortable. Once he was called as best of death bowlers in India in T20 levels but ended up being expensive at the last few years of his career. But it doesn't nullify the fact that he should've been more capped and should have played 20 tests. He is considered as one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers not to have donned the white jersey for India.

#10 Priyank Panchal

The Gujarat lad has maintained a 45.52 batting average in first class level and has a triple hundred against Punjab comprising of pacers like Manpreet Gony, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul. He scored 1449 runs at 80 average in the 2016-17 season and also played with an average of 61.06 in the next two season which got him his first India A team call up in Westindies in 2019. For India A team Panchal got three tours and 14 matches where he scored 1089 runs at 51.85 batting average with 4 centuries including a double hundred.

After that, he got his maiden National side callup in the South Africa tour of India in 2021-22 but in the presence of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, he didn't get a single game. Currently, as he is 31 now, it is tough for him to play much tests in coming years.

The England and Wales Cricket Board on Thursday announced a 14-member squad for the first Test of the five-match series against India. The ENG vs IND five-match Test series is starting from June 20. The first match will be played at Headingley on June 20, 2025.

Also Read: Youngest Cricketers to lead India in Tests

Overton replaces Atkinson

Fast bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton has returned. He has been included in the team in place of injured Gus Atkinson. Jamie has returned after the match against New Zealand in June 2022.

Atkinson was unavailable for selection due to a right hamstring injury suffered during the Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.

Carse, Woakes included in the squad

Fast bowlers Brydon Carse, Jacob Bethell and Chris Woakes have also been named in the squad, who last played during the New Zealand Test tour in December. The India A side are already in the United Kingdom, playing warm-up games against England Lions.

Woakes, known for his effectiveness in home conditions, especially at Lord’s, last featured prominently in 2018 against India, where he claimed four wickets and smashed an unbeaten 137.

Young spinner Shoaib Bashir, who starred with nine wickets against Zimbabwe, retains his spot as the lone specialist spinner. IPL winner Jacob Bethell and seamer Sam Cook, both of whom impressed recently, have also earned call-ups.

Ben Stokes to lead the team

England will field a significantly altered team compared to the last time they faced India in early 2024. James Anderson has since retired, while Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Ollie Robinson are the other notable absentees from the squad.

Ben Stokes, who returned from a hamstring injury in that Zimbabwe Test, will lead England against India in a five-match series that marks the start of both teams’ campaigns in the new ICC World Test Championship cycle.

Also Read: Most runs vs England in England for India in tests

ENG vs IND Test Series Schedule

• 20-24 June 2025 - 1st Test, Headingley
• 2-6 July 2025 - 2nd Test, Edgbaston
• 10-14 July 2025 - Third Test, Lord's
• 23-27 July 2025 - Fourth Test, Emirates Old Trafford
• 31 July-4 August 2025 - Fifth Test, Kia Oval

ENG vs IND | England full squad

Ben Stokes (c), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

India A started their England tour on a great note with a solid Day 1 display against the England Lions in Canterbury. Karun Nair headlined the day with a solid, unbeaten 186 with the bat for India A.

England Lions captain James Rew won the toss and decided to bowl first on a greenish pitch at the St. Lawrence Ground. 

India A lost captain Abhimanyu Easwaran early on 8 while Yashasvi Jaiswal went back to the dressing room after adding 24. 

When it looked like that, Rew took the right decision of bowling first, Sarfaraz Khan and Karun Nair put up a 181-run partnership for the third wicket to give India A the advantage after Day 1’s play. 

Karun Nair, who last played a test match in 2017, continued his great form and completed his fifty in 85 balls. 

Soon, Sarfraz Khan, who was dropped from the test squad, completed his fifty in 84 balls as well. When both batters were looking to get to the hundred mark first, Sarfraz was caught down the leg side on 92 off 119 balls and missed his ton.

Sarfaraz Khan gets dismissed 8 short of a well-deserved hundred.

Sarfaraz was looking good but was eventually caught down the leg side on 92.

Karun Nair is batting on 97!

India A 233/3 in the first inning!#ENGAvINDA #SarfarazKhan pic.twitter.com/pY7pCRmwZP

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) May 30, 2025

Nair, who was dropped on 89 off Ajeet Singh Dale, completed his 24th first-class ton off 155 balls.

Post that, incoming batter Dhruv Jurel and Nair started smashing the bowlers and changed their gears. Nair reached the landmark of 150 in 205 balls while Jurel reached his fifty in just 68 balls.

At the end of Day 1 of the 4-day unofficial test match, Jurel remained unbeaten on 82 off 104 balls while Nair remained unbeaten on 186 from 246 balls, with India A finishing with 409/3. 

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has produced some of the most thrilling matches in cricket history, with some teams successfully chasing down mammoth targets to win games. Rajasthan Royals were the first team to chase down a 200-plus total when they scored 217/7 in 19.5 overs to overcome Deccan Chargers’ 214/5 in the IPL 2008. It was only the ninth match of the league. Over the course of the next 12 years, a lot of sides chased down totals over 200+, but none came anywhere close to scaling what RR achieved in 2008.

That record stood for a solid 12 years before the Royals eclipsed it again in IPL 2020 when they hunted down Kings XI Punjab’s 223/2 with 226/6. The mark stood for five years. Currently, Punjab Kings hold the record for the highest successful run chases in IPL history.

Here is a list of the Highest Successful Run Chases in IPL History.

Read Also: Most Ducks in IPL

Highest Successful Run Chases in IPL History

1. Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders (2024) | 262 Runs

Punjab Kings hold the record for the highest successful run chases in IPL history. PBKS successfully chased down a target of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in IPL 2024. Tasked with chasing down a daunting target of 262 in front of a vociferous away crowd in Kolkata, PBKS had their task cut out for them. However, the Punjab team defied all odds.

Player of the Match Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten 48-ball 108, while Shashank scored an unbeaten 68 off 28 balls as Punjab pulled off the greatest run chase in IPL history.

In fact, Punjab Kings’ successful run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders is the only time a team has chased down a score of 250 or more in IPL history. It is also the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket as a whole.

2. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings (2025) | 246 Runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad are second on the list of highest successful run chases in IPL history and coincidentally, it came against Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. After PBKS posted 245/6 in the first innings, SRH chased down the target by reaching 247/2 in 18.3 overs with Abhishek Sharma playing a starring role with a 55-ball 141. Abhishek hit a 40-ball century, making it one of the fastest in IPL history.

Punjab started strong with an explosive opening stand from Prabhsimran Singh and young Priyansh Arya. The two added 66 runs in just 24 balls, giving the team a perfect start. After Prabhsimran fell for 42, captain Shreyas Iyer took charge, smashing a half-century in just 22 balls. Nehal Wadhera supported him well, and the Kings crossed 150 runs within 12 overs.

The strong foundation was capped off in style by Marcus Stoinis, who cleared the ropes four times in the closing overs, helping Punjab finish at 245, their highest total of the season so far and a testament to the batting unit’s depth and intent. But Sunrisers Hyderabad responded with a brilliant opening partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head. Their 171-run stand helped them chase down the target successfully.

3. Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Lucknow Super Giants (2025) | 228 Runs

Stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma's unbeaten 85 led RCB to chase down 228 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. After the win, they sealed a top-two finish in the very last league game of IPL 2025. This is also RCB's highest-ever successful chase in IPL history and they will now play in Qualifier 1 against Punjab Kings. Records galore for RCB don't stop there, as they have ended up winning all 7 away games in the regular season, which is just remarkable.

The chase saw significant contributions from Virat Kohli and Phil Salt in the powerplay, followed by Jitesh Sharma and Mayank Agarwal's unbeaten partnership. Agarwal scored 41 not out to support Sharma's match-winning innings.

Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants posted a formidable 227/3, powered by captain Rishabh Pant's spectacular 118.

4. Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings (2020) | 224 Runs

A collective effort by Sanju Samson, Steve Smith, and Rahul Tewatia led the Rajasthan Royals to chase down a target of 224 runs against Punjab Kings in 2020, the highest successful run chase in IPL history. Samson was the top-scorer with an explosive 85 off just 42 deliveries but Rahul Tewatia became the centre of attraction because of his massive 7 sixes in the important moment. He smashed 5 sixes in an over against Sheldon Cottrell which changed the whole game.

5. Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders (2024) | 224 Runs

Rajasthan Royals equalled the highest successful run chase in the IPL recorded by them in 2020, when they beat Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. In a battle for the position at the top of the IPL 2024 standings, KKR managed 223/6 on the back of Sunil Narine’s maiden T20 century. For the Royals, Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen took two wickets each. 

In the run chase, Jos Buttler stood tall with an unbeaten 107 off just 60 balls, steering his team over the line on the last ball. The Royals were on the backfoot at 121/6 in the 13th over. But a cameo from Rovman Powell and some late power-hitting from Buttler got the Royals home.

Interestingly, Punjab Kings surpassed this record 10 days later against the same opponent at the same venue, when they successfully chased 262.

6. Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings (2021) | 219 Runs

Mumbai Indians pulled off a stunning 4-wicket victory over their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in a match in 2021. Ambati Raydu & Faf du Plessis played blistering innings to put up that mammoth total at Delhi.

Chasing down the target of 219 runs, Mi didn't have a good start. Kieron Pollard's unbeaten 87 from 34 balls, including 6 boundaries and 8 sixes, played the most pivotal role in securing the win. He was also the best bowler for Mumbai in that match. Pollard conceded only 12 runs in his 2 overs and scalped 2 huge wickets.

7. Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers (2008) | 215 Runs

In the inaugural IPL edition, Rajasthan Royals chased a massive target of 215 runs against Deccan Chargers. Andrew Symonds' explosive 117 runs in just 53 deliveries helped Deccan Chargers to put up a huge total of 214 runs.

While Chasing, Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan laid the foundation with a 98-run partnership. The explosive knocks from Mohammad Kaif and Shane Warne at the end took Rajasthan to achieve victory.

Read Also: 5 batters with the most runs in IPL playoffs history

8. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals (2023) | 215 Runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad stunned Rajasthan Royals at their home to clinch a high-scoring last-ball IPL thriller. Leveraging on a crucial last-ball no-ball from Sandeep Sharma, Sunrisers snatched the cliffhanger to register for their fourth win of the season. With 17 needed off the final over and 4 needed off the final ball, power-hitter Abdul Samad smashed a six off the last ball to help Sunrisers register a memorable win.

The foundation of the chase was laid by top-order batters Abhishek Sharma (55) and Rahul Tripathi (47) but it was the Glenn Phillips 7-ball 25 cameo that turned the game on its head and reignited the chase.

9. Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings (2023) | 215 Runs

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Kumar produced a superb effort with the bat as Mumbai Indians completed a gigantic 215-run chase against Punjab Kings and won the match by six wickets in Mohali on Wednesday. The pair added 116 runs for the third wicket after Mumbai were 54/2 in the powerplay.

Ishan Kishan scored 75 in 41 balls. Tilak Varma and Tim David joined the chase and wrapped the contest in 18.5 overs with no issues.

10. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings (2024) | 215 Runs

Brushing aside the first-ball dismissal of the explosive Travis Head, his opening partner Abhishek Sharma showcased an amazing range of stroke-play to ensure Sunrisers Hyderabad finished off its league engagements in the IPL in style with a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings.

Chasing a target of 215, Sunrisers batting depth came to the fore as first Rahul Tripathi set the tone before Abhishek served another reminder of his growing stature as a future India star. The way he stood up and swung Rishi Dhawan and later carted spinner Harpreet Brar for two huge sixes was truly symbolic of his authority, class and timing against pace and spin alike.

Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen came up with superbly-paced knocks to help the team’s cause on yet another perfect batting strip here.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has announced Team India for India's tour of England today i.e. Saturday, 24 May. Along with the ENG vs IND 2025 squad announcement of the team, he also announced the new captain. A total of 18 players of Team India have been selected for the England tour and the command of this team has been handed over to young Shubman Gill.

Rishabh Pant has been made the vice-captain of the team. Karun Nair has returned to the Indian squad for the first time since 2017. Players like Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh have also got a place. However, Mohammed Shami has not been selected in the team.

Also Read: Every Test Captain of Indian Men's Test Cricket Team

Here's everything Agarkar said during the Press conference of ENG vs IND 2025 squad announcement.

Why was Mohammed Shami not selected?

Ajit Agarkar has confirmed that the medical team has declared Mohammed Shami unfit, due to which he has not been selected. "He's had a little bit of a setback over the past week, got some MRIs done. Wasn't going to be able to play five Tests. Don't think his workload is where he needs to be. Medical guys told he'll be ruled out. We were hoping he'll play some part, but if he's not fit, we'd rather pick guys fit and available rather than waiting," Agarkar said.

Shami played his last Test match for India in the form of WTC Final 2023.

Virat Kohli had approached for retirement in April

Ajit Agarkar revealed that Virat Kohli had approached him in April regarding retirement from Test cricket. He said, "When guys like that retire, always big holes to fill. Ashwin also retired. Those three have been stalwarts. Always difficult. One way of looking at it is, opportunity for someone else. Had conversations with both of them."

"Virat reached out early April, seem him give 200% every ball he plays even when he's not batting or on the field. Felt he'd given everything he had, if he can't keep up to the standards it was time for him. It's come from him. Have to respect that. They've earned that respect."

Jasprit Bumrah will not play all 5 Tests

Jasprit Bumrah will not play all five Tests, Ajit Agarkar confirms. The chief selector said, "Don't think he'll be available for all five Tests. Whether it's four or three, we'll see based on how the series goes and his workload is. Even if he's fit for 3-4 Tests, he'll be an asset for us. Just happy he's part of the squad.

"More important to us a player. Once you're managing people, there's a lot that takes out of you. We've had a chat with him, he's okay with it. He knows where his body's at. KL not really, he's captained a while back, he's a quality player and hope he has a big series. With Booms, it was more about his workload management.

'He’s a quality bowler'

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has been included in the squad in the absence of Mohammad Shami. Talking about Arshdeep's inclusion, Ajit Agarkar stated, "He's a quality bowler and has had a taste of counTy as well. he plays domestic when he can. A tall guy, can bowl with the new ball, has body of work in red-ball cricket and in recent form in the last couple of years. Bumrah unlikely to play all five Tests, we needed a bit of variety."

Also Read: Form? Fitness? Should Mohammad Shami be there for the England test series? Who are the other options?

Agarkar on captaincy

With Shubman Gill being appointed as India's new Test captain, Ajit Agarkar provided a massive hint that Gill could be the long-term leader of the Test team.

"We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement. We're hopeful he's the guy. He's a terrific player, our best wishes to him."

"You don't pick captains for one tour or two tours. We've seen some progress over the last year or two with him. No doubt it's going to be as tough as it gets,"

Shubman Gill has been appointed as the new Test captain of the Indian Men's Test Cricket team for the five-Test series starting in England from June 20. Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the vice-captain of the team.

Also Read: LIVE: Indian Test team announcement for England tour LIVE updates | Subhman Gill named captain; Nair, Sudharsan, Easwaran, Shardul in test squad

Gill will replace Rohit Sharma, who retired from the format in May due to poor form last season, especially in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

Gill's Test career

Gill has played 32 Tests for India so far. He made his Test debut in the MCG Test on India's 2020-21 Australia tour. He has so far scored 1893 runs at an average of 35.05. There is a big difference between his average at home (42.03) and outside (27.53). The upcoming series will be Gill's first full tour.

He has also played two WTC Finals there in 2021 and 2023, and also played the fifth Test on the 2021 tour after it was postponed due to COVID-19.

India will start WTC 2025-27 cycle with five-Test series

India will start the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a five-Test series against England. They are scheduled to play the first Test at Headingley (from June 20), the second Test at Edgbaston (from July 2), the third Test at Lord's (from July 10), the fourth Test at Old Trafford (from July 23) and the final Test at The Oval (from July 31).

Every Captain of Indian Men's Test Cricket Team

Since their first Test in 1932, India have witnessed 36 Test captains across 589 matches. CK Nayudu led India in their maiden Test match in 1932 against England. However, it was only 20 years later that India tasted their first Test victory under the captaincy of Vijay Hazare against England on February 10, 1952 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Only five Indian captains – Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – have managed to notch up at least 10 Test victories. Kohli remains as India’s most successful Test captain, winning 40 of the 68 Tests he led in with a 58.82 success rate. Leading in 60 games between 2008-14, Dhoni is the second-most successful Test skipper for the country, winning 27 matches.