Gautam Gambhir refuses to travel with India A squad to England

The suspense over Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir’s departure to England is over now. There were reports that Gautam Gambhir will travel to England early with the first batch of the India A players to assess the situation ahead of the five-match Test series.

It is now confirmed that Gambhir will not travel without the senior players, as they head to the UK together. A Revsportz report claimed that Gambhir will travel to England with the first batch of the main Test squad on June 6 for the high-profile five-match Test series, starting on June 20.

Gautam Gambhir will travel with the main squad on June 6

On the other hand, the India A team will depart for England on May 25 with Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who will be their head coach for the three unofficial Test matches—two against the England Lions and one game against the Indian cricket team—to help them prepare for the Test series.

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However, Gujarat Titans’ Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan will join the India A side ahead of the second game, as they will be involved in the IPL 2025 playoffs, and the same was already confirmed by the BCCI when they named the squad for the tour.

Notably, several India A stars are reportedly expected to be picked in the main squad for the Test series in England. Indian players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, and Dhruv Jurel are believed to be in line for action against Ben Stokes and his team.

Manav Suthar likely to be picked in India's Test squad for England tour

Additionally, left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who previously impressed in Australia, is also expected to be picked in India’s Test squad.

As reported by Revsportz, sources revealed that the Indian selectors are keen to test Manav Suthar again in English conditions, as they are now preparing the core for the future after Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement.

Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir’s journey as Team India’s head coach has begun with big changes. Firstly, he made Suryakumar Yadav India’s T20I captain. Just as Gambhir began the transformation, senior stars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin retired from Test cricket.

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Before their Test retirement, India suffered a 0-3 whitewash at home against New Zealand, followed by a 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia. They failed to qualify for the WTC Final after back-to-back appearances, losing the trophy to New Zealand and Australia.

Atul Wassan declares the start of the Gautam Gambhir Era but warns against complacency

Now, former cricketer Atul Wassan has called this the beginning of the "Gambhir Era" and stressed that every coach needs the freedom to build the team in their own way.

However, Wassan stressed the need for a balance while warning Gautam Gambhir to deliver results; otherwise, he would have to face consequences after getting all the freedom.

Atul Wassan said on OTTPlay, “Whichever coach comes, comes with the dogma. You have to give him a free hand. If you're a very strong personality, you're given a free hand. And if you don't deliver, you have to be out. It's not as if you make all your choices, but in the end, you cannot guarantee results. There has to be some balance; some kind of mentorship has to be there from the board.”