Follow UsIndia and England Test sides are gearing up for a five-Test series in England in June, and the visitors will be without the central axis of their batting in the last decade. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both announced their retirements in a week of each other in the first half of May 2025, and the Indian Test batting has a very young look to it ahead of the marquee Test tour.
However, English skipper Ben Stokes is in no mood to take the Indian challenge lightly. He told England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) official website that India’s batting reserves are very capable of challenging England at their home and underestimating them would be a grave error.
“When I have spent time in the IPL, they have batters coming out of their, can't say that word on the interview, but you know what I mean,” Stokes said.
“You can never take any Indian team lightly even though they're without two of their greatest batters. We always look to get at the opposition during a Test and we look and see how we can adapt.
“They have had two big retirements in Rohit and Kohli, who have been such an important part of the Indian team and all the success that they have had. But India's battery of batters is just incredible.”
India are yet to announce their squad for the five-Test series, but India A squad, which will be playing two tour games against England Lions, has many candidates who will be featuring in the main Test side. England, meanwhile, have a one-off four-day Test against Zimbabwe, which would help them ease into the summer.
"India are a very good team wherever they go in the world. We will be focused on the Zimbabwe game now, but as we get closer and closer to the India series, our focus will shift to them. It will be a long tough summer. We know what we have got,” Stokes added.