India vs England 2025: Who are the best Opening options for Team India on the England tour?
With less than a month to go for India’s tour of England, the BCCI selection panel announced an 18-member Test squad led by new skipper Shubman Gill on Saturday. The squad, sans retired veterans like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin, has a blend of experience and youth.
With the retirement of opener Rohit Sharma, India doesn’t have a designated partner to accompany Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. The selectors have picked three specialist openers to go along with Jaiswal, namely KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Team India Squad: 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.
The selection panel headed by Ajit Agarkar didn’t give a clear picture on what opening combination India will go into the first Test with. “GG and Shubman might take a call on opener once they get there. But once they get there, they’ll have a think about that,” said Agarkar.
To have a successful Test tour of England with a relatively new look side, India would need a solid opening combination. With the selection committee tight-lipped on who could partner Jaiswal at the top, this article delves on who is likely to get a nod.
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India’s opening options from squad for upcoming England tour
Yashasvi Jaiswal
The left-hander has all but sealed his position at the top of the order, thanks to his tremendous run of form in the whites for India. He was India’s leading run-scorer in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2023-25, having amassed 1798 runs in 36 innings at an average of 52.88, hammering four centuries.
While Yashasvi Jaiswal has been prolific at home, having an average of 60.61 after 10 Tests, Jaiswal has done quite good overseas as well. He has scored a century each in Australia (average of 43.44) and West Indies (average of 88.67) and has established himself as one of the batting mainstays of India’s Test team.
So, who is likely to be his batting partner at the top for this challenging tour of England that will also embark a brand-new WTC cycle?
Abhimanyu Easwaran
One of the three uncapped players picked in the squad (Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh being the other two), Abhimanyu Easwaran has a decent chance to earn a Test cap in this tour. There are few reasons to support this statement.
One is that Easwaran is all set to lead the India “A” in their tour of England Lions, and it will start in a few days’ time. He would be better acclimatised to the English conditions ahead of the senior team tour.
The next is the vast experience Easwaran has playing red-ball cricket. The Bengal opener has been a regular feature in India “A” for various tours, both home and overseas. While he is yet to play a Test match for India, he has played 101 first class games, scoring 7674 runs at an average of 48.87 with 27 tons.
Last but not the least, being a right-hander with a solid technique, he would complement the left-handed Jaiswal while facing the new ball in swinging conditions.
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KL Rahul
KL Rahul and Jaiswal in all likelihood, will be India’s first choice openers for this tough tour. The reason being, the calmness and experience Rahul brings to the team and this batting order. With 58 caps, the stylish batter is the most experienced specialist for India in the whites, following the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
The 33-year-old also stepped up as an opener in the recent Australia tour in the absence of Rohit Sharma. He made two fifties as the No.2 batter on that tour and was one of the few bright spots for the team in what was otherwise a forgettable tour for India.
Also, he has a wealth of experience playing in SENA countries (1446 runs in 50 innings) and has scored five of his eight Test centuries there. He has a decent average of 34.11 in England (614 runs in 18 outings), scoring a century each in the 2018 and 2021/22 tours.
Sai Sudharsan
The fourth opener in the squad is Sai Sudharsan, and this is his maiden selection the India Test squad. This is thanks to his incredible run of form in the domestic circuit across various forms of the game and in the IPL. He also got the experience of playing in English conditions, having represented Surrey in 5 county championship games (281 runs with a century).
He has scored 1957 runs in 29 FC games, including hammering a double century last year and is the leading run-getter (638) in the ongoing IPL. These numbers merited his call-up to the Test team.
The Gill led team may not directly insert Sudharsan at the top given his experience and the fact it would mean two left-handers at the top. At the same time, to give more stability to the top order and on current form, India may open with Sudharsan and drop KL Rahul to No.3.
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