BCCI prioritises domestic giants over IPL stars in India-A squad for England tour – Report

The BCCI selectors are said to prioritise domestic giants over IPL heroes in the India-A squad for the away England tour. As per the latest reports, the Indian Cricket Board has cleared it to the selection committee to focus more on non-IPL stars in the squad for the shadow tour. The India-A squad would include some Test hopefuls, including opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, a potential replacement for Rohit Sharma in the senior team.

Per Cricbuzz, the selectors met in Mumbai on May 6 - a day before Rohit announced his shock Test retirement, picking the India-A squad with Easwaran as the captain. The team will face two matches against England Lions (May 30-June 2 and June 6-9) and one against the senior India squad (June 13-16).

Although all focus remains on working towards resuming IPL 2025, which the BCCI suspended on Friday (May 7) over security concerns, picking the India-A squad hasn’t been the easiest job for the selection committee either. The BCCI has advised them to select players unlikely to be part of the IPL 2025 playoffs and those who can quickly join the shadow tour for the second or third practice game.

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Among those discussed or likely picked are Tanush Kotian, Baba Indrajith, Akash Deep, and Karun Nair, among others. Besides, Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy will be part of the India-A squad before getting drafted into the senior team that begins their series with the first Test starting June 20 in Leeds.

Though all-rounder Shardul Thakur would be part of the main squad, there is no information on Ishan Kishan getting an India call-up for the first time since getting drafted back to the central contract list. Given that India will pick Rishabh Pant, who might become the new vice-captain of the Test side following Rohit’s departure, and Jurel for the England Tests, Ishan’s chances of breaking into the side are minimal.

Iyer in or out?

Days after Rohit said goodbye to Test cricket, another batting veteran, Virat Kohli, informed BCCI of intending to do away with the Test format, piling pressure on the selectors to pick an experienced squad for England Tests.

Should the BCCI fail to persuade him to do a U-Turn on his Test retirement call, they could bring in Shreyas Iyer, who is not in the scheme of things for the UK tour for now. The other option is Sarfaraz Khan, whom the selectors are unwilling to rush for; instead, they want him to play domestic games before considering him for red-ball cricket.

On the other hand, seamer Mukesh Kumar, known for his presentable seam position and bowling tight lines across formats, could also be considered for one of the squads, depending on how far his IPL team (Delhi Capitals) go in the tournament. RCB seamer Yash Dayal is another name considered for the UK tour.