The opening match of the five-match Test series against England will begin on June 20 and will be played at Headingley, Leeds. However, the new look Team India will have to fill the void left by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who announced their retirement from Test cricket. With the two stalwarts gone, the focus now shifts towards young leader Shubman Gill, with Rishabh Pant serving as his deputy.
At the press conference ahead of the opening match, Rishabh Pant spoke about his new role as a senior and vice-captain. He stated that being a senior is secondary; he is primarily a middle-order batter, and that is where his attention resides.
Pant said, “It feels good but at the same time, you know it’s a responsibility also to share your knowledge, your experience with new players, new youngsters coming to the team. But at the same time, not focusing on that senior part too much, you still have to play the game, you still have to learn the game as an individual and keep helping people around you. That’s how I look at it.”
Absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Speaking of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's absence from the team Pant added, “Definitely big people have left, yes there will be a gap, but at the same time it’s an opportunity for us to build a new culture or take the existing culture forward, just adding to it."
Team India aiming to end 18-year wait for series win
In absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, a new look team India will look to end series winning drought in England. India has not won a test series on English soil since 2007. They closest they came to doing so was during the 2021 tour, where India led the series 2-1.
However, the pandemic forced the fifth and final test at Edgbaston to be postponed for 10 months to mid-2022, and India lost control of it with an ordinary second innings leading to the series getting drawn. With a quality pace battery and mix of youth and experience, Gautam Gambhir's team will look to finally achieve the impossible
