India ‘A’ will play one four-day match against the England Lions and one intra-squad match to prepare for the India Test tour of England, which starts on June 20. The plan was already in place in January, but it seems to have changed now.
BCCI prepares England Test tour roadmap
Considering most players who’ll be part of the India cricket team will be coming off playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has organised a schedule that will aid the preparations for Test cricket.
According to the Indian Express, India A will face England Lions in a four-day match on June 4. Which will be just 9 days after the IPL 2025 season ends on May 25. Before playing at Headingley on June 20, there will be an intra-squad match, and the second India A match will be played between the first and second Tests.
Should Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli play for India A?
However, the BCCI doesn’t exactly know whom to select for the India A vs. England Lions matches. Right now, they’re torn between two options.
The first is to pick the main players, who are part of the main team, like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, or Mohammed Shami. The second would be to select domestic performers or those who have been part of the last India A tour of Australia. These would include players like Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, or Shardul Thakur.
Considering India have lost their last two Test series and that many won’t have played red-ball cricket in the last three months, the BCCI might just think to tell the player to face England Lions. This way, they’ll get acclimatised to the pitches and conditions in England.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir is also expected to travel with the India A team, and he might decide whether he wants out-of-form players like Rohit, Kohli, and Rishabh Pant, among others, to play or not. If the players themselves wish to play, the BCCI will give them a nod for sure.
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