All our Test specialists will be in England in June: Vinod Rai

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai today said Test specialists like Murali Vijay, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will all land in England in June as a part of Rahul Dravid-coached India A side that will be playing a number of first-class games against county as well as England Lions (A) side.

The five-Test series against England will start in August and skipper Virat Kohli considers it as his biggest Test. Kohli will be playing for Surrey in the month of June after the IPL. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma will be playing for Yorkshire and Sussex from the start of the County season.

The former CAG however maintained that BCCI is not at all taking Afghanistan lightly and a very competitive side like the one that won the Nidahas T20 Tri-Series will be fielded against the talented Afghanistan side during the historic one-off Test in Bengaluru, starting June 14.

"We are looking at the bigger picture and we have had discussions with our core think tank -- skipper Virat, coach Ravi (Shastri), India A coach Rahul and GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad. The general consensus has been preparation for England Test series," Rai told PTI during an interaction today.

Rai informed that Indian cricketers will leave for England in two batches in June.

"There will be a few seniors -- among Test specialists, who will leave for UK in early June along with Rahul's India A team. I can't say how many -- anything between two to four senior team players will be there from start of A tour. A few will play the Afghanistan Test match and then leave for England. But yes, atleast 7 to 8 players, who are all Test team specialists will have to be in England in June," Rai elaborately explained the arrangement.

"It is important to play red ball cricket in England in June as the entire July will be the limited overs series (three ODIs and 3 T20 Internationals). So in June, they play red ball cricket, switch to white ball in July and then the Test series starts in August."