Indian stars upbeat, confident ahead of high-stakes series opener against England

Indian players have exuded confidence in their young and talented squadron to get the job done in England ahead of the series opener on Friday at Headingley, a venue India has not conquered since 2002. A new sunrise is hours away from engulfing the sky of Indian cricket. The modern-day behemoth will begin its first assignment without the batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who bid farewell to the Test format last month. Along with the batting wizards, crafty offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin pulled the curtain on his international career midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

"It is a new group. We are missing a few senior players, and yeah, it is a young team led by a really young captain," seasoned batter KL Rahul said in a video posted by the BCCI on X.

Shubman Gill was deemed Rohti's long-term successor and was crowned the new Test skipper. Gill would look to restore India's dominance in the red-ball setup, which came under question following their shortcomings against New Zealand and Australia. The unprecedented defeats ended their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship final despite being the favourites.

Amid the lack of experience, the youngest Test captain in Indian cricket history sees the positive side of a young squad and said,

"Everyone is so young and it will be relatively easy and exciting to be able to mould this team into what we would want we want in the next 10-15 years of Indian cricket to becomes."

After Ashwin, Rohit and Virat's departure, India infused youth and proven skilled stars into the squad to replace the cover-up for the lost stars. One of the seniors present in India's current Test fold, Ravindra Jadeja, reflected on the squad's composition and said,

"As a team, our balance is very good. We will play good cricket."

Shardul Thakur, who has played four of his 11 Tests in England, looks forward to relishing the challenges England offers, which force players to make tweaks in technique to survive. He said, "I think it is very exciting to play in this part of the world. Sometimes it is cloudy, and sometimes it is bright sunny, and as a player, you need to make adjustments to your game, whether you are batting or bowling."

As the five Tests will mark the beginning of India's campaign in the latest World Test Championship cycle, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav highlighted the importance of the five Tests and said,

"This is a big series, and if we win, it will be a massive achievement."

Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, who earned his maiden call-up, added,

"To start off, here it is said that it is a tough series, if we seal it off well, it will be fun." 

Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who enchanted the spectators with his bewitching performances in Australia, is excited for the next assignment and said, "It always pumps you and always want to give your best, and just super excited to play in this England series."

Frontline speedster Mohammed Siraj added,

"It is a proud feeling to play with such an extraordinary group of talent."

Prasidh Krishna, who ended IPL 2025 with the Purple Cap, hopes India can win the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with fun and enjoyment and said,

"All of us are upbeat, always joking around. If that fun leads to winning a tournament here, it will be great. All of us will be jumping around for sure and maybe come up with a dance for a celebration."

India's squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)