India begin Gill era with an eye on England's weakened bowling

You might remember The Oval Test of 2011. A recall for RP Singh when he was on vacation in Miami, a double-hundred for Ian Bell, a six-for for Graeme Swann, a third century from Rahul Dravid in a backs-to-the-wall tour, a 42-ball pair for Suresh Raina, and the final coat of whitewash in England 4, India 0.

That was the last time India went into a Test match without any of - in order of Test-cap number - Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma in their XI. Fourteen years on, none of those players will be around when India take the field against England on Friday. Leeds will mark the start not just of a new Test series in England - and not just the start of a new World Test Championship cycle for both teams - but also a new era in Indian cricket.

It feels portentous to look ahead to a new series by looking back to 2011 and 4-0, but it's appropriate too. India hit the reset button within a year of that tour, and began to assemble the most versatile and most successful team in their Test-match history. They begin this 2025 tour with the unenviable task of trying to match or better that team's achievements with a largely new set of players.

The end of the old era was abrupt, with three retirements in the space of one tour, and there's no soft launch for the new one - no home series against a low-ranked opposition to ease players into new roles. The Shubman Gill era begins with a resounding splash at the deep end, away in England.

For all that, though, India won't be facing the England of 2011, 2014, 2018 or 2021-22. Those four series were significant points on the remarkable career graphs of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Broad will take part in this series too, as a commentator, and Anderson as a name on the trophy.

England, then, have inexperience to worry about too. It will worry them that this inexperience is concentrated in the department that's most vital to winning Test matches in English conditions: fast bowling. Mark Wood and Olly Stone are out with long-term injuries, and while Gus Atkinson, and - for the first time in four years - Jofra Archer could feature in the second Test, they won't start the series.

There is vulnerability here, and India will know that. And India have Jasprit Bumrah.

England: WLWWL
India: LLDLW

Thanks to England's injury issues, they start the series with two fast bowlers, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue, with eight Tests between them, and an offspinner, Shoaib Bashir, with 16. Without a genuine fifth bowler, England might also have to rely on Ben Stokes taking on a bigger bowling workload than he has been accustomed to in recent years. In this context, Chris Woakes becomes a key player. He has played 57 Tests, is nearing the 200-wickets milestone, and has an outstanding record in England: 137 wickets at an average of 21.59. And Woakes has come into his own as the senior man in England's attack over recent months, taking 31 wickets at 23.58 in eight post-Anderson Tests.

He's about to become India's 37th men's Test captain, lead them into a new era, and slip into the role he has always looked destined for: Kohli's successor as the defining face of Indian cricket. Shubman Gill is also about to go into his 33rd Test match with a batting average of 35.05. It's a slightly misleading figure, because he has played a lot of his Test cricket on spicy pitches - top-seven batters average 32.10 in matches involving Gill - but you still expect someone of Gill's lavish gifts to have better numbers. He sets high standards for himself too, and what better time to lay down a marker than his first series as captain?

England named their XI two days out from the Test, confirming that Ollie Pope would bat at No. 3, and leaving Jacob Bethell to wait his turn.

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Josh Tongue, 11 Shoaib Bashir

Gill will take over the No. 4 slot vacated by Kohli, and Rishabh Pant will bat at No. 5. It leaves India needing to pick two out of Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and the uncapped B Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran to bat at Nos. 3 and 6. Going by the precedent of the Australia tour, there's even a chance India could play three of those five - two specialist bats plus Reddy as a seam-bowling allrounder. If they resist the temptation to hedge their bets and extend their batting, they could choose between the bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur and the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav to occupy the No. 8 slot. Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj seem certain to start as the two senior fast bowlers, with either Prasidh Krishna's height and bounce, Akash Deep's accuracy and seam movement, or Arshdeep Singh's left-arm swing in support.

India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Karun Nair, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur/Nitish Kumar Reddy/Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Start out as a green seamer, flatten out thereafter. This is how Headingley's pitches have behaved over recent years: lowest collective average (27.48) in the first and second innings of all English grounds that have hosted at least five Tests since 2010, and best collective average (33.65) in the third and fourth innings.

Bowl first is almost certainly the way to go at Headingley: teams bowling first have won each of the last six Tests at the venue, and the last four fourth innings here have produced successful chases of 322, 359, 296 and 251.

There is potentially one counterbalancing factor, though. The weather in Leeds has been unusually warm and dry in the lead-up to the Test against India starting on Friday, and if this persists (though there is rain forecast over the five days of the match), there is a chance for the pitch to break up more than it usually does.

"Shubman Gill's a very, very fine player. He has been around a long time now, considering he's only young. He has played a lot of cricket, a lot of IPL cricket, actually a lot of cricket for India. I think it's an exciting time for Indian cricket, to be under new leadership. Obviously, a lot of pressure being captain of any Indian team, definitely; but yeah, it's an exciting time. It always is for teams when a new leadership role comes into it. Obviously, he is my opposition for the next six weeks, so I won't talk too much, but all the best."
Ben Stokes welcomes his opposite number to Test captaincy

"Me and Rishabh [Pant], we have played a lot of cricket together, and our mindset and our thinking are sort of aligned, and our vision is sort of aligned. We want to create an environment in the team where everyone feels secure, and I personally believe that everyone's best performances come when they're feeling the most secure, and they're feeling validated and secure, and that's the kind of environment that we want to create in the team."
Shubman Gill on the leadership philosophy he shares with his vice-captain