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

Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has announced his playing XI for the first Test between England and India at Headingley in Leeds. According to Manjrekar, the newly chosen skipper Shubman Gill should delegate responsibility for opening the batting to the seasoned combo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, followed by a rookie in B Sai Sudharsan, who will make his Test debut and bat at No. 3.

Gill, who has stated that he will drop down the batting order, will be replaced at No. 5 by wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant. Furthermore, Ravindra Jadeja, the team’s premier all-rounder and most experienced player, should take the job of specialist spinner if India does not select Kuldeep Yadav. Manjrekar has given the option of replacing Kuldeep with pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. Finally, he has chosen Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna as his three major pacers for the game.

Sanjay Manjrekar, a former Mumbai and India batter, has passed over in-form all-rounder Shardul Thakur,

Whom many pundits have tipped as a strong contender for the forthcoming encounter. The Thane native has not made the cricketer-turned-commentator’s Playing XI because he believes the Indian squad is capable of winning even without him. Manjrekar shared the Playing XI on his official X Twitter.

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

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

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 20, 2025

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.