India A squad for ENG tour: Easwaran named captain; Nair, Kishan return

The India A tour of England will play a key role in the Indian team's preparation for the five-match Test series against the English team next month

The BCCI on Friday evening announced the official India A squad which will be travelling to England to face England Lions in the Test series starting May 30. Abhimanyu Easwaran has been handed the captaincy role for the team, while players like India’s regular Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and out-of-favour players like Karun Nair and Ishan Kishan have also been named as part of the squad.  Apart from them the other big names in the squad includes Ruturaj gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Khaleel Ahhmed and Sarfraz Khan. 

India A squad for England:

 

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  

  Window of opportunity for players  Most of the players in India squad barring Nistish Kumar Reddy and Yashavi Jaiswal are unlikly names that could have been conidered by BCCI for down under Test series vs England. However the impromptu Test retirement of two of the biggest names of Indian cricket cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli has opened the window of oppotunity from yonger players to prove their skill and finally get a chance to be a regular member of India's red ball team.  The tour with India A will for sure make a strong case for them if they can play well in swing and bouncy conditions of English wicket, a weakness the Indian team just doesn;t seem to be able to conquer. 

India A schedule in England

 

India A will kick off their England tour with a two-match four-day series against the England Lions, starting May 30 in Canterbury. The second game will be held in Northampton from June 6, with senior players like Shubman Gill joining. An intra-squad match with the senior India team is set for June 13–16 in Beckenham, serving as a key warm-up ahead of the first Test in Leeds on June 20.

  IPL impact on selection  The ongoing IPL 2025 season was supposed to end by May 25 as per the inital schedule. However an unwanted 10 days break in the tournament has delayed the final date from may 25 to June 3. Which means many of the players will still be playing in IPL 2025 playoffs hence BCCI got themselves an already shortlisted names of plauyers they can pick. Temas of all the players in India A squad are either alreday eliminated from IPL 2025 playoff race or are on the verge of getting elminated, a criteria BCCI seem to have used while selecting the names.