Sai Sudharsan, Arshdeep and Karun Nair in India's Test squad for England tour

B Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh have been picked in India's Test squad for the first time, while Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur have made comebacks for the five-match series in England that starts on June 20.

The 18-man squad is led by 25-year old Shubman Gill, who was appointed India's new Test captain by the selection panel headed by Ajit Agarkar at a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday. Agarkar said Jasprit Bumrah, who was India's vice-captain on the recent tour of Australia, was unlikely to play all five Tests in England due to workload management and that was a factor in him not being given the captaincy.

Gill succeeded Rohit Sharma, who retired from the format in May following poor returns over the past season, especially during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Rishabh Pant was appointed vice-captain of the squad.

The batting group includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran in addition to Gill, Pant, Sudharsan and Nair, with Dhruv Jurel as the second wicketkeeper.

The squad has four allrounders (two pace, two spin) in Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

There are five specialist fast bowlers - Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep - with Kuldeep Yadav the only specialist spinner in the 18.

The series is India's first since the retirements of Rohit, R Ashwin and Virat Kohli from Test cricket, and Mohammed Shami was also missing from the squad. Shami had not yet built up to Test match workloads during his recovery from the ankle surgery he had in February last year.

Sarfaraz Khan and Harshit Rana are the only two players who were part of the original Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad to be dropped for the England tour. Tanush Kotian and Devdutt Padikkal, who came in as replacements during India's tour of Australia, were not picked either.

The five Tests against England will be India's first in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle. They play the first Test at Headingley (from June 20), the second at Edgbaston (from July 2), the third at Lord's (from July 10), the fourth at Old Trafford (from July 23), and the final at The Oval (from July 31).

They begin the tour with a four-day match against India A at Beckenham on the outskirts of London between June 13 and 16.

Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh