Follow UsThe much-awaited India A team for the tour of England was announced on May 16 (Friday), and it had all the names that were expected to be there, including Anshul Kamboj, which to an extent was a surprise entry, but not something that was unwanted.
Amongst the 18-member squad, there are three probable candidates that could go on to make their India debut this summer in England, when the senior team will play a five-Test series, beginning June 20 onwards.'
After piling on tons and tons of runs in domestic cricket and now even in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last two seasons, Tamil Nadu’s Sai Sudharsan looks like the perfect fit to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s next Test opener.
The southpaw also showed that his stroke-making has improved immensely as he struck at 153 while scoring 509 runs in his first 11 matches in the league. Thus, he ticks the box of an aggressive opener, which is required to offset English pacers early on in swinging conditions.
As for his grit, the left-handed batter has compiled 1957 runs in 29 first-class matches with seven centuries, including a double ton and five half-centuries to his name. Though Sudharsan’s average of 39.93 might not look too impressive in comparison to other opening contenders, age is right by his side at 23, and he is bound to improve.
The 29-year-old Bengal batter has been on tours with the senior and 'A' teams far too often not to have already made his India debut. But as things stand, when he had the best possible opportunity during Rohit’s absence in Australia, Devdutt Padikkal was preferred over him because of his poor India A outing against Australia A in two four-day games just ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25.
In England, someone like Easwaran, who is a much better judge of swing than bounce, can get a chance if he throws in a good few innings as India A captain against the England Lions. As for credentials, in 101 First-Class matches, Easwaran has 7674 runs at an average of 48.87, making him the perfect bet to open against England.
Anshul Kamboj is on the right track ever since picking up a 10-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25. He was picked for INR 3.4 Cr in the IPL 2025 mega auction and did decently in the chances that he got for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), picking up four wickets in six outings.
Most importantly, he picked 34 wickets in six Ranji Trophy games that put the ball in his favour. Also, the fact that he can bat a bit, as he has a first-class average of 14.67, means that if the likes of Shardul Thakur or Nitish Kumar Reddy are unable to get desired results for the team, Kamboj can be brought into the playing 11.