Gautam Gambhir offers prayers at Maa Kamakhya temple in Guwahati ahead of England Test series

GUWAHATI: Ahead of the five-match Test series against England, Indian Cricket Team’s head coach Gautam Gambhir offered prayers at Maa Kamakhya temple in Guwahati on Monday.

The visit of Gautam Gambhir comes ahead of the England tour for a five-match Test series, part of the 2025-2027 ICC World Test Championship.

The Kamakhya temple, located at a distance of 7 km from Guwahati, is one of the biggest Shakti shrines in the country. It is situated on the Nilachal hills.

The series against England will take place from June to August 2025, with matches at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).

This will be India’s first bilateral series since both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket earlier this month.

#WATCH | Assam: Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team, Gautam Gambhir visited Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati today and offered prayers. pic.twitter.com/A0CdnRekva

— ANI (@ANI) September 3, 2024

Last Saturday, right-hand batter Shubman Gill was appointed as the new Test captain for India, while wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will serve as his deputy in the longest format, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the highly anticipated five-match Test series.

India has added Abhimanyu Easwaran to the Test squad. He has been a domestic cricket stalwart for Bengal, with 101 first-class games, 7,674 runs at an average of 48.87, 27 centuries, and 29 fifties behind him. He had a disappointing tour to Australia last year, where he scored just 36 runs in four innings.

Following Kohli’s retirement from the longest format of the game, a couple of budding and solidified figures like Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair have been added to the middle-order.

In the bowling department, right-arm seamer Jasprit Bumrah will be leading the unit on English soil. Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Shardul Thakur are the other fast bowlers in the squad.

The series will take place from June to August 2025, with matches at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).

This will be India’s first bilateral series since both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket earlier this month. ‘

India’s Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), 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. (ANI)