Follow UsSai Sudharsan has been handed his maiden Test cap ahead of the first Test against England at Headingley on June 20 (Friday). He will slot in at No. 3. This match marks Shubman Gill's first match as India's Test captain, and his side will bat first in pleasant conditions in Leeds.
Gill and Sudharsan opened the innings for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, where they put on 912 runs at a strike rate of 159.4.
Sudharsan has scored 1,957 runs at 39.93 in 29 first-class matches, which includes seven tons and five fifties. He has some experience of playing in England as well, having turned up in five matches for Surrey last year, during which he scored 281 runs at 35.13, with a highest score of 105.
Cheteshwar Pujara handed the Tamil Nadu batter his Test cap, which means he's made his debut across formats, having played two ODIs and one T20I.
Karun Nair also returns to the India XI for the first time since 2017 after a run of excellent performances in the domestic circuit and also in the county championship in England. He will come in at No.6 in this game.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna