Team India will be locking horns against England in the first Test of the five-match series that will be played at Headingley from June 20. The series will also mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle so it will be highly important for both the sides. However, the Men in nBlue were given a massive blow before the series even commenced as star players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirements from the format.
This left the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with no choice but to announce a new skipper a few days before the series commenced and they passed the baton to 25-year-old Shubman Gill. Rohit and Virat's retirements also opened the doors for several youngsters to make it to India's Test squad.
Many new faces were called-up to India's Test squad for England series
The likes of Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh were given their maiden Test call-ups while on the other hand, veteran batter Karun Nair made a return to India's Test set-up after almost eight years.
Though fans are still concerned about the absence of both Rohit and Virat from the series, legendary India cricketer Kapil Dev believes that it is time to move on from the duo.
"Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble aren't there either. So, there's no point thinking about who isn't around," Kapil Dev said on Aaj Tak.
"Yes, they will be missed, but we need to look at the next generation and be proud of them. Rohit has done his job; Virat has done his job. They made us proud, but let's see if the next generation of players can be bigger," he added.
Meanwhile, both Rohit and Virat announced their Test retirements in the month of May, leaving behind a massive void in the team. It will be interesting to see how the Men in Blue will fare against England without the help of arguably the two current biggest stars of Indian cricket. It will be nothing short of a huge feat if Gill & Co. manage to defeat the Three Lions as they haven't recorded a Test triumph on English soil since 2007.
India squad for England Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.
England's playing XI for first Test against India: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.