ENG vs IND 2025: Sanjay Manjrekar ignores Shardul Thakur from his Playing XI for first Test

Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has unveiled his Playing XI for the first Test between England and India at the Headingley, Leeds. According to Manjrekar, the newly-appointed skipper Shubman Gill should be handing the responsibility of opening the batting to experienced duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, followed by a youngster in B Sai Sudharsan to debut in Tests and bat at No. 3.

Gill, who is supposed to demote himself in the batting order, as confirmed by himself, will be followed by wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant at No. 5. Furthermore, star all-rounder and most experienced player in the team - Ravindra Jadeja, should be playing the role of specialist spinner in case India do not opt for Kuldeep Yadav. In place of Kuldeep, Manjrekar has given the option to go with pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. Finally, he has picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna as the three mainstay pacers for the game.

Manjrekar, a former Mumbai and India batter, has ignored the likes of in-form all-rounder Shardul Thakur, whom a lot of experts have been citing as a hot pick for the upcoming match. The Thane-born has failed to manage a spot in the cricketer-turned-commentator's Playing XI, as he believes that the Indian team is good enough to pull of a win even without him. Manjrekar took to his official X handle to share the Playing XI.

Manjrekar's XI for 1st Test vs ENG: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav/Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

Sanjay Manjrekar@sanjaymanjrekar

My playing XI first Test - Rahul Jaiswal Sudarshan Gill Pant Nair Jadeja Reddy/Kuldeep Siraj Prasidh Bumrah

06:50 AM · Jun 20, 2025

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England bring back Woakes for Headingley clash

Speaking more of the game, the highly anticipated encounter is set to go underway at the historic venue of Headingley. This is the same venue where Ben Stokes hit the iconic century in the fourth innings against Australia during the 2019 Ashes to script one of the best run-chases in Test cricket. The star all-rounder, who is now the England captain, will be looking to have similar desires in terms of result at the venue this time round as well.

The hosts, meanwhile, have already named their Playing XI for the upcoming game. The Ben Stokes-led side is going in with a relatively inexperienced squad where Chris Woakes is going to be the most-experienced player taking the field after Joe Root and the English captain. 

England XI for 1st Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir