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India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is likely to travel with the India A set-up to England ahead of the main five-match Test series, starting on June 20, reported the Times of India.
Thanks to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, India are not playing any international cricket for the next three months. Gambhir, under whom India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, wants to monitor the reserve pool for India’s Test team for the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
However, there’s no confirmation on whether Gambhir will travel with the India A team just as an observer or will also play the role of a coach, something that the head of the National Cricket Academy, VVS Laxman, has largely been doing for the last couple of years.
India A are likely to play three four-day games against England Lions before the main series.
India have played some superb cricket under Gambhir in the two white-ball formats but the same can’t be said about Test cricket. Rohit Sharma and Co. were whitewashed by New Zealand at home and then lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia after 10 years.
According to the report, Gambhir has been working on a blueprint for the next two years, which will include the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, and the next WTC cycle.
"Gambhir has been in discussions with the BCCI since he returned from Australia. He has expressed his desire to travel with the India 'A' team to get a clearer view of the reserve pool. With India winning the Champions Trophy after Gambhir's insistence for certain wild card players, one may expect him to assert more in future," a BCCI source told the TOI.
"One of the crucial issues identified is reviving India 'A' tours. There have been only a handful 'A' series after Dravid left NCA and all of those were shadow tours for a marquee series. Gambhir too believes that there needs to be more 'A' tours. That's why he wants to take stock of the situation firsthand.”
There are some spots open in the Test team. Rohit’s form has been a big concern and India would want a backup opener for the England tour. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli have also struggled to get going in red-ball cricket.
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami’s fitness will be a concern and India would want a couple of backup options ready for the long tour.
