Preview: Test Series: England vs. India - prediction and team news

One of the most anticipated Test series on the international calendar is set to get underway on Friday, when England take on India at Headingley in the first of five matches.

Early reports from Headingley suggest a dry, improving batting surface with little chance of weather disruption, making high scores likely unless early movement under clouds offers bowlers a brief window of opportunity.

Match preview

This series marks the debut of the brand new Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which replaces the previously contested Pataudi Trophy for matches between these sides played in England and the Anthony de Mello Trophy for games staged in India. 

After a dismal 2025 ICC Champions Trophy campaign in which they failed to win a single match, England produced a much better display against the West Indies last month, racking up back-to-back 3-0 series wins in the ODI and T20 formats. 

However, while the Three Lions’ limited-over record has been erratic in recent times, they have enjoyed a solid run in Test matches since June 2022 against New Zealand, when they essentially unleashed “Bazball.”

Ben Stokes’ side has won eight of their last 12 series in the longest format, though they were beaten comprehensively by the Men in Blue 4-1 when they last met in India at the start of last year. 

One major benefit that the hosts have is that they were able to complete a warm-up match against Zimbabwe, where several batters gained confidence ahead of a busy summer, such as Ben Duckett (140) and Zak Crawley (124), who recorded standout centuries. 

Meanwhile, this tour marks a significant transition for India, as Shubman Gill assumes full-time Test captaincy following the shocking double retirement of veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma earlier this year.

Gill, now a well-established international batter, takes on the challenge of leading a youthful Indian side in what is widely considered the toughest away assignment in Test cricket outside of Australia.

Given that the visitors have not played an international match since the Champions Trophy, owing to the Indian Premier League, their form is difficult to assess, and even more so in the longest format, with their last series being their tour of Australia, either side of the New Year. 

That series Down Under ended in a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Baggy Greens despite an opening win in Perth, which followed a shock 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand that ended a long streak of dominant home performances.

Looking further back, in 24 Tests over the past decade against England, India lead 14-8 with two draws, though the results are heavily influenced by home advantage - India have dominated in the subcontinent (11-2), while the Three Lions lead 6-3 in matches played in England.

Team News

Despite England’s poor 4-1 series loss to India last year, Joe Root stood out by scoring over 100 runs in two of the Tests, including 133 across the two innings in Ranchi and 110 in Dharamsala.

Root will be the cornerstone of England’s batting again in this series, having amassed 3,117 runs at an average of 56.7 since the 2022 New Zealand series. He has more runs and centuries (11) than any other batter in that time.

The retirements of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, combined with injuries to key pacers like Jofra Archer, Olly Stone and Mark Wood, have left England’s bowling unit vulnerable, and that could potentially be their biggest weakness in the series.

With Sharma and Kohli now retired, KL Rahul will be India’s key batter at the top of the order, and he will have fond memories in this part of the world, having scored a match-winning century at Lord’s in 2021.

Jasprit Bumrah terrorised England last year with 19 wickets in four games and has maintained strong form recently, taking 32 wickets in his last five Tests, though he is only expected to feature in three of the five matches due to his workload management. 

One player who will be hoping to seize his opportunity will be Karun Nair, who made a name for himself with an unbeaten triple century (303) against England in 2016, but has not played for India in the longest format since 2017. 

England squad: Ben Stokes (C), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes

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

We say: England to win

While it is difficult to rule India out completely, they are in the midst of a significant transition, and the first couple of matches in this series will likely give us a clearer indication of what to expect from their youthful lineup. 

England, on the other hand, would have benefited massively from their tune-up match against Zimbabwe last month, and we feel they will be able to take the lead in this series. 

Written by
Devesh Jaganath

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