India head coach Gautam Gambhir is all to set to join the national team in Leeds on Tuesday, ahead of the highly anticipated first Test against England, which will start this Friday.
Gambhir had traveled back to New Delhi recently due to a family crisis with his mother, who needed to be hospitalized. Sources close to the matter said that he should return to the team by the time of the first Test, possibly on Tuesday — the day the Indian team is scheduled to reach Leeds after getting a break on Monday.
Before the relocation to Leeds, the Indian squad was stationed in Beckenham, where they played an intra-squad match between the senior Test team and India 'A'. The match, led by Abhimanyu Easwaran and guided by Hrishikesh Kanitkar, was played behind closed doors, with the BCCI posting occasional updates on social media.
In Gambhir's absence, the responsibility of coaching fell on batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, bowling coach Morne Morkel, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, and fielding coach T Dilip. The team has been working hard for the series against Ben Stokes' England, which begins at Headingley.
Adding to the intrigue around the preparations, images of VVS Laxman — head of the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) — surfaced during the intra-squad game. His presence sparked speculation, coinciding as it did with Gambhir’s temporary departure. However, sources clarified to IANS that Laxman’s brief visit had been pre-planned. He was scheduled to spend two days with the team in England before heading out from Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had attended an Olympic-related event.
As Gambhir takes over in Leeds, the Indian think tank has to make a number of crucial decisions about team combinations. Important among these are how many of the five Tests pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will play in, and sorting out the batting order — the No. 3 and 4 spots, in particular, with B Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, and Abhimanyu Easwaran leading the charge.
The unit also needs to decide between seam-bowling all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur. In the pace attack, the selectors will have to decide on the third fast bowler to join Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep are in the running.
Shubman Gill will captain the Indian team that is looking to put an end to an extended wait — their previous Test series win in England was in 2007. This five-match series also serves as India's first campaign of the 2025–27 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
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