Old guard out, new 'leaders' in: Comparing India's 2021 & 2025 Eng Test squads

As India hole for the five-match Test bid successful England starting June 20 successful Leeds, the opposition betwixt the 2025 and 2021 squads is striking and symbolic of a generational displacement successful Indian cricket.Four years ago, India toured England with a squad brimming with battle-hardened veterans - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami. That squad was built connected decades of experience, with 7 players having played implicit 50 Tests, including Ishant who had played 102 matches.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Fast guardant to 2025, and Team India returns with a new-look side, led by 25-year-old Shubman Gill, with conscionable 32 Tests to his name.

With the retirements of Kohli, Rohit and Ashwin, this caller squad is bladed connected experience. Only 2 players successful the squad person played much than 50 Tests, and 3 are yet to debut successful the format. The enactment radical itself is successful transition, with Gill and Rishabh Pant forming a youthful core.

This tour, therefore, is astir ushering successful a caller epoch and investigating the readiness of India's adjacent procreation to measurement into the shoes of legends.

The gulf successful acquisition betwixt the 2 squads couldn't beryllium much glaring, making the 2025 bid an accidental to constitute a caller section successful Indian Test history.A squad of committedness vs proven pedigreeIn 2021, the Indian squad had 11 players with 35-plus Tests experience, 7 of whom had already played implicit 50 Tests. Virat Kohli was starring the broadside with 92 Tests and implicit 7,500 runs, portion his lawman Ajinkya Rahane had 74 matches to his name. Eleven players were implicit the property of 30.

Together, the squad had amassed 83 Test centuries, and mean acquisition of players was 38.25 matches.Contrast that with 2025, wherever 10 of the 18 squad members are nether 30, and 3 players are yet to debut successful Tests. The corporate Test acquisition per subordinate stands astatine conscionable 20.6, with the full squad combining for lone 29 Test hundreds. This squad represents imaginable much than pedigree, a striking reversal from the proven match-winners of 4 years ago.

Leadership transition: From giants to greenhornsIn 2021, Kohli and Rahane were 2 of India's astir seasoned campaigners, boasting implicit 12,000 runs betwixt them. Gill and Rishabh Pant successful 2025 are inactive learning the ropes arsenic leaders. Gill has played 32 Tests but has averaged conscionable 14.66 successful England. Pant, with 43 Tests nether his belt, however, brings credibility with 2 hundreds successful 9 matches successful England and could beryllium the cardinal to India's batting.Top bid shift: Uncertainty replaces stabilityThe 2021 apical bid of Rohit, KL Rahul and Pujara had a combined 161 Tests and 10,952 runs, forming a rock-solid apical three.

In 2025, Jaiswal is acceptable to open, but his spouse remains undecided, perchance Rahul, oregon newcomers similar Abhimanyu Easwaran oregon Sai Sudharsan. Gill, erstwhile an opener, had dropped to No. 3 precocious and present whitethorn adjacent bat astatine No. 4 to lend stability. There's experimentation successful the apical bid wherever erstwhile determination was certainty.

Middle bid & little Order: Looks credible contempt retirementsWith Kohli and Rahane gone, the 2025 mediate bid volition trust connected Gill, Pant, KL Rahul oregon Karun Nair, and Jadeja. While Pant brings X-factor, the others volition request to basal up nether pressure. It inactive looks credible arsenic astir of them are coagulated bats with a just magnitude of acquisition and pedigree. Nitish Kumar Reddy astatine No. 8 adds batting depth, dissimilar the longer process India carried successful 2021 with Ishant, Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj batting from 8 to 11.

Bowling Attack: Jadeja-Bumrah inactive the spine, but extent missingThe 2021 bowling onslaught was 1 of India's finest overseas units - Ashwin (413 wickets), Ishant (306), Jadeja (221), Shami (184), Umesh (148), and Bumrah (83) offered pace, control, and experience. In 2025, Bumrah (205 wickets), Jadeja (323), and Siraj (100) stay key. However, beyond them, there's a crisp driblet successful experience. Kuldeep, Shardul, Arshdeep and remainder bring assortment but are mostly untested successful English conditions.Result of 2021 Tour & outlook for 2025India's 2021 run saw them pb 2-1 earlier the bid was halted owed to COVID. The last Test, played successful 2022, ended successful an England win, levelling the bid 2-2. Despite a seasoned squad, India couldn't seal the series.In 2025, the expectations are humble but the curiosity is high. Can this young Indian broadside defy the likelihood and execute successful investigating English conditions? The bid marks a full-circle infinitesimal - ending 1 era, and perchance opening another.