Shubman Gill starts India captaincy journey with sparkling knock, KL Rahul hits fifty in India vs India A match
India captain Shubman Gill, opener KL Rahul and Shardul Thakur starred on day 1 of the India vs India A practice match at Beckenham, England.
Ever since he landed in England a little more than a week ago, KL Rahul has been in red-hot form with the bat. continued his rich vein of form. After hitting 116 and 51 for India A against England Lions in the second practice match at Northampton, Rahul took another giant step in his preparation for the five-match Test series against England by hitting a half-century in the India vs India A intra-squad warm-up match at Beckenham on Friday.
The four-day warm-up match, which does not have first-class status, is India's last chance of getting a match-like feel before the Test series next week. The Indian team management decided to keep it a closed-door affair, restricting any broadcaster and media personnel at the venue. The only updates from the match came from the social media handles of BCCI after the close of play.
Apart from Rahul's fifty, the biggest silver lining for India was the new captain Shubman Gill's positive performance. Just like Rahul, Gill also scored a half-century while all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who is fighting with Nitish Kumar Reddy for a spot in the XI, picked up wickets.
"Beckenham. A solid Opening Day in the Intra-Squad game! Half-centuries for KL Rahul & Captain Shubman Gill. Shardul Thakur amongst the wickets," posted BCCI.
Gill, who has a poor average of 14.66 in England and has scored just 88 runs in six innings across three matches here with a best score of 28, will take plenty of confidence from his knock.
Thakur, who scored knocks of 27 (in first unofficial Test) and 19 and 34 (in the second unofficial Test) against England Lions and also took two wickets against them, also got some valuable game time as he battles a young Nitish Kumar Reddy for the spot of a pace-bowling all-rounder in the team.
“It's really important for all of us to get this game time... because some of them are coming from the 'A' game. Getting some time on field is really important. That's what has happened today as well,” said India fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, summing up the action.
"Looks like a good, nice, hard pitch. Bowlers have been in the game all throughout, have been bowling some really good spells. Batsmen also showed some character. It's always good when you are competing against each other as well."All of us are excited and enjoying what's happening... All of us are getting together after a while, so a lot memories, a lot of cricket each one has played with different teams, coming here, have spent a lot of time before... just try and make sure you keep the environment light," he said after the opening day's play on Friday.
India's first Test against England at Leeds from June 20 will mark the start of a new era under newly-appointed captain Shubman Gill, as he aims to lead a new-look team to glory following the retirements of stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Tests and Ravichandran Ashwin from international cricket.
The series will be held from June to August 2025, with matches scheduled at Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord's and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
