Friday marks the beginning of a new age in Test cricket for Team India as they face England in the first of five games at Headingley in Leeds. Since the retirement of their two batting mainstays, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the series will be India's first and will also mark the start of a new World Test Championship cycle. Unsurprisingly, the series' main narrative centers on the start of a new chapter in India's red-ball cricket history.

Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh were new additions to the series squad, while Karun Nair rejoined the team after more than eight years. Furthermore, despite having been a member of the Indian Test team since the beginning of last year, Sarfaraz Khan was not included in the squad, whereas Abhimanyu Easwaran was. Prior to the first Test, former India batter Mohammed Kaif wasn't very happy with the decision to leave out Sarfaraz and advised the Indian team not to make another "mistake" by giving Sudharsan a debut at the cost of Easwaran.

Despite Rishabh Pant's recent remarks about the batting position, which probably placed Sudharsan and Karun Nair in direct rivalry for a batting spot, Sai Sudharsan is nonetheless widely anticipated to earn his debut cap in the first Test. Therefore, it is probable that Easwaran is not competing for a spot in the XI, but Kaif thinks that the Bengal batsman should participate in the Headingley Test.

"Before Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran deserves to be in the starting XI. We must acknowledge Easwaran's 27 first-class hundreds and about 8k FC runs. In England, Sarfaraz, who had previously hit runs for India A, was mistakenly dropped by the selectors. Kaif posted on his official X account that they shouldn't do it again by excluding Easwaran from the Leeds Test.

The Indian team was captained by Easwaran. One of the squad's tour games was against England Lions, and they scored two half-centuries in both contests. Nevertheless, one of Nair and Sudharsan will probably contend for the third spot in the batting order, with Shubman Gill expected to bat at number four and Pant holding onto the number five position.

India A Sarfaraz

In the first tour match against England Lions, the batsman scored 92 runs. With Karun Nair, who hit a double century in the game, he helped to restore the Indian innings. Although Sarfaraz was a member of India's previous Test series in Australia, he did not play in any of the Tests.

Read Also: Tendulkar’s Tips for Gill: Overcoming England’s Pace Without Kohli and Rohit

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