The Indian National Cricket Team is all set to lock horns with the England Lions in three matches over four days ahead of the Test series against the England National Cricket Team, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organized these games to ensure that the players get used to the English conditions and prepare well for the Test matches.
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India and England will lock horns in 5 Test matches
The Indian national cricket team will face the England national cricket team in a five-match Test series in June, July and August 2025.
The opener of the Test series is set to begin on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds, with the second game being hosted by Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 2.
From July 10, the third Test match will begin at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground in London and the fourth match will be played at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester from July 23. The fifth and final Test match of the series will begin on July 31. at Kennington Oval in London.
The Indian players will get 3 four-day matches before the England Tests
Team India players who would like to strengthen their case for selection or regain form will have an opportunity to do so in the three four-day matches against the England Lions between the end of the IPL on May 25 and the start of the Tests.
The recent performances of the Indian batsmen have been extremely poor and they have failed miserably in the last three Test series – against the Bangladesh national cricket team and the New Zealand national cricket team at home and against the Australian national cricket team Down Under.
The poor performance with the bat saw the team suffer a 0–3 whitewash at home against the Black Caps and they also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. With this, they were also eliminated from the race to the final of the World Test Championship for the first time.
There is no confirmation that Rohit Sharma has been given the opportunity to play the Test series against England after his horror show in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which forced him to sit out the Sydney Test. Things have not been good for Virat Kohli, who has averaged 30.72 since 2020 as well.
Meanwhile, there are doubts over the quality of England Lions for the matches as the best cricketers might be busy in the T20 Blast. However, the BCCI is confident that the ECB will respond after the Lions received strong opposition in their shadow tour alongside the 2023-24 India Test tour, ESPNCricinfo reported. BCCI apparently arranged these matches to give the batsmen an opportunity to make their case for selection.
Sitanshu Kotak has been appointed India's batting coach
Another step taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to end the batting woes was the appointment of new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
According to a report in TOI, Sitanshu Kotak has been added to the support staff led by Gautam Gambhir as batting coach. He will begin his stint with the home series against England, which includes five T20Is and three ODIs.
Apparently, it was Gautam Gambhir who requested the BCCI to add a batting coach to the review meeting after the BGT debacle and the officials granted his request.
“Coach Gambhir asked for a batting coach during the review meeting. Discussions have been going on since then and now Kotak will be added to the support staff,” a senior BCCI official who was part of the meeting was quoted as saying by TOI .
“Most of our batsmen (batsmen), including the seniors, have struggled badly in the last two series. There is clearly a need to strengthen the support staff of the Indian men's cricket team from the batting point of view,” said a source trust.