India will take on England in a five-match series starting Friday, June 20. This is a very different-looking Indian team sans Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin; hence, there's no baggage, but a SENA tour comes with a lot of baggage on its own and the young captain Shubman Gill will have his hands full. It is a mix of youth and experience for India but the last couple of series haven't been as auspicious as they would have liked. If this young Indian team can start afresh without any set of pre-determined burden or pressure, it might be an interesting series.
England tours are probably one of the toughest because the conditions dictate the proceedings as equally as the opposition, sometimes even more. Look at how the WTC final panned out last week, 14 wickets fell on each of the first two days of the Test match and then the conditions changed drastically, the sun was out and even the last pair for Australia added 59 runs and the rest, as they say, is history. If the conditions stay what they are currently at Headingley, as has been reported, there will be big runs on offer for both teams and how India can neutralise the Bazball challenge will be decisive.
If anything, this Indian team has learnt from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy debacle, an extra pace-bowling option might be helpful, especially given Jasprit Bumrah's workload concerns and hence, the selection of Shardul Thakur. To his credit, Thakur has broken down the door of selection with consistent performances with bat and ball and has also performed in England in the past - has a half-century to his name in the WTC Final no less.
Shardul's presence will also give a bit of a breather and comfort to the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah, who won't have to literally break their back. Hence, Nitish Reddy might miss out or can India play the Andhra all-rounder for a pure batter at 7? That looks a far cry, especially with the batting woes for India against New Zealand at home and then Down Under and add to that the uncertainties that come with someone like Sai Sudharsan, who will be making his Test debut and Karun Nair, who will be returning to India's line-up after eight years.
That means Dhruv Jurel would have to miss out, which will be unfortunate. Jurel, who played just one Test against Australia, was in fine form in the A matches and did outstandingly well against the England Lions as well, scoring 94, 53*, 52 and 28 in four innings and could have been a great option at No 7 after Ravindra Jadeja but it seems, he would have sit this one out.
The rest of the line-up looks largely on the expected lines, except the third pace-bowling option in Arshdeep Singh or Prasidh Krishna. India have the players and the talent to succeed, but can they get over the mental barrier of performing in the English conditions while missing a few great names on the team sheet - that would be their challenge.