Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir offered prayers at Mumbai’s Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple on Thursday ahead of a gruelling five-Test series against England.
Gambhir will travel to England with the first batch of Test players on June 6, as BCCI finalises the squad and departure plans. Players finishing their IPL campaigns early will join him.
The series marks the beginning of India’s WTC 2025–27 campaign, with redemption on their minds after past Test setbacks in New Zealand and Australia.
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Read more:In a move that’s raised eyebrows, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have brought in veteran New Zealand pacer Tim Southee as a specialist skills consultant for the upcoming five-Test series against India.
Southee is expected to work closely with England’s fast bowlers during the high-profile home series, offering technical insights and experience in seam-friendly conditions.
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"KL Rahul is one of the guys who might not be the youngster anymore, but he could fulfill the role. Technically, he's good. I think he can bat both ways, which I think a No. 4 has to be able to do. He needs to have a strong technique in case you lose one or two quick wickets. Then he needs to be able to step on the gas with regard to the run rate, which I think he can do as well," he said.
(READ MORE)In the ongoing IPL season, Arshdeep Singh has 16 scalps to his name with an impressive economy rate of 8. In white-ball cricket, his real value comes when batsmen put the pedal to the metal in the last phase of the innings. Arshdeep was one of India’s heroes in the T20 World Cup, the tournament’s joint-leading wicket-taker with 17 dismissals to his name. It was he who bowled the 19th over in their famous T20 World Cup victory and kept things tight, conceding just 4 runs to strangle the South Africans in the final.
But coach Rai feels his ward is ready to step up. "Wo pak chuka hai (He is ripe now). He should get a chance to play in the red ball. He can bring the balance that India has been looking for so long," he said.
With his incredible skill to swing the ball both ways and his dexterity to hit the 6m length consistently, Arshdeep Singh is arguably the best of his type India has had since Zaheer Khan. With three A games before the five-match Test series, the Punjab seamer should at least get a chance.
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