India secured a dashing win in Champions Trophy 2025 and now the team will take break from international cricket as it prepares for 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). But after this T20 tournament concludes India will be shifting to Tests and will be playing a five-match series against England.
Navjot Singh Sidhu Raises Big Concern
Former Cricketer and commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu has highlighted a major concern given India’s struggles in Test format. While the Indian team has enjoyed success in the T20 World Cup 2024 and Champions Trophy 2025, India has seemed to struggle a lot in red-ball cricket. They received a shocking home series defeat against New Zealand by 3-0 and then in Australia by 3-1 at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Sidhu also pointed out that one of the major concerns for India is filling the void left by Hardik Pandya and Axar patel in the Test squad.
Sudden Shift From IPL To Tests
“The thing to be worried about is that the IPL is now coming up next. No one is ready to sit out the IPL,” said Sidhu on Sports Tak. “They will play the league and then all of a sudden comes the England tour. Conditions will shift from North Pole to South Pole. Completely different. Moreover, India’s last Test series in England had started on August 4. This time, it is ending on August 2. The matches are in June and July. There will be grass and moisture and the air will be so heavy that the ball will gain ample movement. And then it will move more off the seam.
“England are sitting ready at home in their conditions and they are like wounded tigers. They have been beaten and defeated.”
No Hardik Pandya And Axar Patel In Tests
“India’s biggest problem is that in the middle order there are no all-rounders the way you see in white ball cricket. Is there a Ravindra Jadeja, or Hardik Pandya or Axar Patel? There is only Jadeja among these three and even he will be limited there. Will he take 4-5 wickets in an innings there? No,” said Sidhu.
“For that you have to depend on someone like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, maybe Arshdeep Singh. You will have to bring a mystery spinner with all of them, that is England’s weakness. But India won’t expose Varun Chakravarthy. Or else they will play Kuldeep. So if these are your four bowlers, none of them bat. Then there is the problem of how to strengthen the batting order. These are the questions standing in front of India,” he said.
