The five-match Test assignment between India and England is set to begin from June 20 with the first game to be played at Headingley in Leeds. The series will be quite important for both the sides as it will mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Ahead of the commencement of the gruelling tour, India bowling coach Morne Mortkel admitted that he was worried heading into the series due to the team's lack of red-ball matches. However, the former South Africa pacer also remarked that he is happy with the progress of the players and feels confident ahead of the much-awaited tour.
India last played a Test match back in January
Notably, the Men in Blue last played a Test match back in January where they faced-off against Australia in the fifth and final game of the Border-Gavaskar series 2024/25.
"All in all, happy with the start so far. I was a little bit nervous in terms of the lack of red ball we've played but seeing how the guys are moving around and training in the last three days is a pleasing sight. We have a fantastic group. There's some quality energy and that's what you need. You need to go into a Test series confident and have that team spirit," Morkel said, speaking to BCCI's official website.
The bowling coach stated that consistency will be key during the series and added that he is happy with the variety in the bowling lineup that is present in the 18-member squad.
"I think consistency is crucial in England and there is consistency when we practice, there's consistency off the field, finding your process, what's going to work for you as an individual. We've got a great variation, variety in our attack, guys with different skill sets so they can do that and still execute the basics well," Morkel added.
The Indian team will be participating in an intra-squad match against India A in Beckenham from June 13. This will be the only warm-up match that the senior team will be playing before the beginning of the Test series against England.
India squad for England Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.