India vs England 2025 Best Test Series Playing 11 wo Virat Kohli
No Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in our India vs England 2025 Test series best playing 11 for the Indian team.
Amidst the tension in India of a possible war-like situation with Pakistan, cricket fans are exposed to two big news at the moment. One is the temporary suspension of the Indian Premier League for a week, and the second is the retirement of Rohit Sharma from the longest format of the game. As if this was not enough, there is a big news being circulated on Virat Kohli’s possible retirement from Test cricket.
While Rohit Sharma took to Instagram to retire from Test cricket in a simple paragraphical post, it is understood that Virat Kohli has expressed his desire to retire from Test cricket after having struggled to perform in this format since 2020. While there are only rumours of Virat Kohli retiring, and BCCI is still pursuing Kohli to continue, if at all these remours are true, it will be a big shift of events in the Indian camp.
As we know, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have served the Indian Test team for over a decade. If all of a sudden they retire from Test cricket, India will not only be without a leader but also experienced batters in the side. Aside from Kohli and Rohit, KL Rahul seems the most experienced batter, and Rishabh Pant follows him. The team is also without their premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has also retired from International cricket during India’s tour of Australia.
India vs England 2025 Best Predicted Test Squad and Players List Without Virat Kohli
Batters: Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Sarfaraz Khan, Shubman Gill (vc) & Yashasvi Jaiswal
Wicket-keepers: Dhruv Jurel & Rishabh Pant (c)
All-rounders: Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar
Bowlers: Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj & Prasidh Krishna
While we are hoping Kohli’s decision is more of a hoax, if at all this is true, there will be big changes in the squad and the strongest playing 11 with the team touring England next month. India will be beginning the WTC 2025-27 cycle with a 5-match Test series vs England. It’s not only the first Test series in the WTC cycle, but also the toughest one with England conditions hammered right at us. So, in case Rohit and Kohli, both are absent, here’s the best predicted playing 11 for the Indian Team for the 2025 Test series vs England.
Best Playing 11 Decoded
Now, talking about the best possible playing 11 without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, we are looking at India continuing with the same opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul. The duo had opened together in the absence of Rohit Sharma in Australia, and they did a pretty decent job. With Rohit not there, expect India to have the same opening combination for the England Test series as well.
However, the middle-order will see big changes with Virat Kohli not there. The most important change that we may see is the batting position of Shubman Gill. Gill has had a decent record batting at 3, but with Kohli not there, this will be an ideal time for Shubman Gill to make that number 4 position his own. More often than not, you would see a number 4 batter coming in to bat with an old ball. This will help Gill to be more successful in Test cricket overcoming all the technical flaws that he has.
Now, talking about the most important number 3 position, you need someone who is technically sound, can negate the new ball, and plays traditional old-school cricket. If we were to look at the current options, there is only one player who fits this role, and that’s Sai Sudharsan. Sai has a solid technique, and has already shown how even playing traditional shots will lead to success in any format that you play. Even if Kohli is there, India can ask Sai and Jaiswal to open, and play KL Rahul at number 6.
Lower-order
Another critical aspect of this lineup shall be the selection of a lower-order. India has always had an issue of having a solid lower-order given the lack of pace all-rounders. While Hardik was once a solution to this, we now have Nitish Reddy as the only good option available to us. So, the strongest lower-order is the one where we see Rishabh Pant at 5, Dhruv Jurel at 6, Ravindra Jadeja at 7, and Nitish Reddy at 8. This option gives us batting till 8 and two good all-round bowling options as well.
Finally, talking about the bowling lineup, expect India to go all-pace attack in the England conditions. Looking at the current options, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj make the cut without a second thought. Ideally, for the third option, India should look at Mohammed Shami, but since Mohammed Shami isn’t the same bowler as he was before the injury, it will be interesting to see what India opt for in this case. However, India may still want to give Shami a match before taking any further decision in this regard.
India vs England 2025 Best Playing 11 for Indian Team Without Virat Kohli
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- KL Rahul
- Sai Sudharsan
- Shubman Gill
- Rishabh Pant (c&wk)
- Dhruv Jurel
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Nitish Reddy
- Mohammed Shami
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
So, that’s about the best possible playing 11 for Team India for the 2025 Test series vs England if Virat Kohli also retires. This is the best option for the Indian team that takes care of the transition as well. In case Kohli is still available, India can leave Dhruv Jurel out, and play KL Rahul in the middle-order with Sai Sudharsan opening with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India vs England 2025 Official Test Series Schedule Fixtures
- 1st Test Match, June 20-24 @ Leeds, 3:30 pm IST
- 2nd Test Match, July 02-06 @ Birmingham, 3:30 pm IST
- 3rd Test Match, July 10-14 @ Lord’s, 3:30 pm IST
- 4th Test Match, July 23-27 @ Manchester, 3:30 pm IST
- 5th Test Match, July 31 – August 04 @ The Oval, 3:30 pm IST
Thanks for reading! What’s your best playing 11 for Team India for the 2025 Test series vs England? Please email your comments to business@cricalytics.com
