The Indian national cricket team is ready to take on the England Lions in three matches over four days ahead of the Test series against the England national cricket team, ESPNCricinfo reported.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organizes these matches to ensure that players acclimate to English conditions and are ready for Test matches.

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India and England to face off in five Test matches

The Indian national cricket team will go head-to-head with the England national cricket team in a five-match Test series in June, July and August 2025.

The Test series opener will begin at Headingley, Leeds, on June 20, with the second match taking place at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on July 2.

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

Indian players to play three four-day matches before England Test

Players in the Indian team who hope to have a strong case or return to form when selected will get a chance between the end of the IPL on May 25 and the start of the Tests.

The Indian batsmen have been in extremely poor form of late, having suffered heavy defeats in their last three Test matches – at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand, and against Australia.

Due to poor performance with the bat, the team suffered a 0-3 defeat at home to the Black Caps and lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. With this, they were also eliminated from the World Test Championship final for the first time.

No confirmation Rohit Sharma He got a chance to play in the Test series against England after a horror performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which forced him to opt out of the Sydney Test. Virat Kohli is not having an easy time, as he is averaging 30.72 since 2020.

Meanwhile, there are doubts over the quality of England Lions’ matches as top cricketers are likely to be busy with the T20 Blast. However, the BCCI is confident that the ECB will respond after the backlash over the Lions’ shadow tour of the 2023-24 Test tour of India, reports ESPNCricinfo. According to reports, the BCCI arranges these matches to give the batsmen a chance to showcase their options.

Sitamshu Kotak appointed as India batting coach

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

According to TOI, Sitanshu Kotak has been added to Gautam Gambhir-Lead support staff as hitting coach. He will start his career with a home series against England, which will include 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs.

Gautam Gambhir reportedly requested the BCCI to add a batting coach during the review meeting after the BGT disaster and officials accommodated his request.

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

“Most of our batsmen, including the seniors, have performed poorly in the last two series. From a batting perspective, the Indian men’s cricket team clearly needs to strengthen its support staff,” a reliable source people said.