Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the Indian cricket team, offered prayers at the Maa Kamakhya temple in Guwahati on Monday before the five-match Test series against England.
Gambhir’s visit precedes England’s five-match Test series tour, which is a part of the 2025–2027 ICC World Test Championship. One of the largest Shakti temples in the nation is the Kamakhya temple, which is seven kilometers from Guwahati. It is located on The Nilachal hills.
Since Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma both declared their retirement from Test cricket earlier this month, this will be India’s first bilateral series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the team for the eagerly awaited five-match Test series earlier on Saturday.
Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav are the members of India’s Test team for the England series.
Right-hand batsman Shubman Gill was named the new Test captain for India, and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be his deputy in the longest format.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has joined India’s Test team. With 101 first-class matches, 7,674 runs at an average of 48.87, 27 hundreds, and 29 fifties under his belt, he has been a mainstay of Bengali domestic cricket. Last year, he had a dismal visit to Australia, scoring only 36 runs in four innings.
A few rising and established players, such as Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair, have been introduced to the middle-order after Kohli retired from the game’s longest format. On English soil, the team will be led by right-arm seamer Jasprit Bumrah in the bowling department. Siraj Mohammed. The other fast bowlers in the team are Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep, and Prasidh Krishna.
Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London) will host games during the June–August 2025 series. This will be India’s first bilateral series.