The BCCI is organizing three four-day matches for India A against the Lions before the England Tests

Indian National Cricket Team is all set to play England Lions in three four-day matches before the Test series against the England National Cricket Team, according to a report by ESPNCricinfo.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has organized these matches to ensure that the players get used to the English conditions and prepare well for the Test matches.

Also read: Board of Control for Cricket in India takes tough step, new ban imposed on Indian cricketers

India and England to lock horns in 5 Test matches

The Indian National Cricket Team will face the England National Cricket Team in a five-match Test series in June, July and August 2025.

The first game of the Test series is all set to start on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds and the second game will be hosted at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 2.

From July 10, the third Test match will begin at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and the fourth match will be played at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester from July 23. The fifth and final Test match of the series will begin on July 31 at the Kennington Oval in London.

The Indian players will get 3 four-day games before the England Tests

Team India players, who would like to strengthen their case for selection or regain form, will have the opportunity to do so in the three four-day matches against England Lions between the end of the IPL on May 25 and the start of the Tests.

The Indian batsmen’s recent performances have been extremely poor and they have failed miserably in the last three Test series – against Bangladesh National Cricket Team and New Zealand National Cricket Team at home and against Australia National Cricket Team Down Under.

The poor performance with the bat saw the team go 0-3 at home against the Black Caps and also miss out on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. With this, they were also disqualified from competing in the World Test Championship final for the first time.

There is no confirmation Rohit Sharma to get a chance to play the Test series against England after his horror show in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which forced him out of the Sydney Test. Things haven’t been good for Virat Kohli, who averages 30.72 since 2020 as well.

Meanwhile, there is a doubt about the quality of England Lions for the matches because the top cricketers might be busy in T20 Blast. However, the BCCI is confident that the ECB will retaliate after the Lions strongly opposed their shadow tour alongside the 2023-24 Test tour of India, ESPNCricinfo reported. BCCI has reportedly arranged these matches to give the batters an opportunity to present their case for selection.

Sitanshu Kotak appointed as India’s batting coach

Another step taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to put an end to the batting issues was the appointment of new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.

According to a report in TOI, Sitanshu Kotak has been added to the Gautam Gambhir-led the support staff as a batting coach. He will start his tenure with the home series against England which includes five T20Is and three ODIs.

Reportedly, it was Gautam Gambhir who asked the BCCI to add a batting coach to the evaluation meeting after the BGT debacle, and the officials granted his request.

“Coach Gambhir had asked for a batting coach during the assessment meeting. Discussions have been going on since then and now Kotak will be added to the support staff,” said a senior BCCI official who attended the meeting, as quoted by TOI.

“Most of our batsmen, including the seniors, have struggled badly in the last two series. There is clearly a need to strengthen the Indian men’s cricket team’s support staff from a batting perspective,” said a reliable source.