Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh picked his preferred Team India playing XI for the first Test match against England, which will take place from June 20 to 24 in Leeds. This Test marks the commencement of Shubman Gill's tenure as a Test captain with a new look team after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's retirements.
Since Rohit and Virat announced their retirement from whites, there are several vacancies being up for grabs in the playing XI across nearly all departments. The team management has several close selection battles to deal with in the first Test. Skipper Shubman Gill and his deputy Rishabh Pant had mentioned during the pre-match conference that the team are yet to choose number three as Gill will bat at number four.
“After Virat Bhai retired, me and GG (Gautam Gambhir) bhai had a discussion about it and we were both clear that he wanted me to bat at No. 4 and I was also clear that I also wanted to bat at that number,” said Shubman Gill in pre-match conference.
India's World Cup-winning star Harbhajan Singh picked Sai Sudharsan for the role while excluding Karun Nair. The spin great picked an extra bowler in the form of a second spinner.
"Team India, although they may seem young and inexperienced on paper, but I think they will show their ability and potential on the field, and put up a fight against England," Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.
"You need to figure out what you need, a batter who can bowl, or a bowler who can bat a bit. If you need a batter, then go with Reddy, and get him to bowl 10-15 overs a day. If Shardul is in, I think the batting looks a bit thin, although he just scored a ton in the warm-up game," he added.
Apart from Virat Kohli's batting order, Team India will also have to select a new opener since Rohit has also announced his retirement. In the absence of Rohit, Harbhajan picked KL Rahul as an opener alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Notably, KL Rahul earlier featured as an opener during the five-Test match series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia.
Harbhajan Singh playing XI for first Test vs England: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh/Prasidh Krishna