June 26, 2025 - The Indian cricket team, led by Shubman Gill, is on a tour of England for a five-match Test series against the home team. The first Test was played at Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds, where India lost by five wickets. The second Test will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 2.

Before this match, a big update has come from the Indian camp. Fast bowler Harshit Rana has been released from the Test squad by the team management. According to a PTI report, Rana has not traveled to Birmingham with the team. After the loss in the Leeds Test, head coach Gautam Gambhir gave a clear statement about Rana’s place in the team.

What Gambhir Said

Gambhir had said that one player in the team had a small injury, so Rana was added to the squad as a backup. But the injured player recovered in time, so there was no need to keep Rana in the team.

After the loss, Gambhir said, "I will talk to the Chief Selector about Harshit Rana. He was kept in the team due to a small injury. Now everything is fine. I will talk to the selector, and then a decision will be made."

Rana was not part of the original 18-member Indian squad for the England tour. His sudden inclusion before the Leeds Test surprised many cricket experts. This was because his performance before the series was average. In the four-day unofficial Test against the England Lions, Harshit took only one wicket. Still, he was picked over bowlers like Anshul Kamboj and Mukesh Kumar.

Rana is known to be close to Gambhir. It was under Gambhir’s coaching that the Delhi fast bowler got a chance to make his Test debut during the Australia tour. On that tour, Rana played two Test matches and took four wickets. He became popular after dismissing Travis Head with an off-cutter in the Perth Test. However, it looks like he still needs to improve his bowling to secure a place in Test cricket.

India's Updated Squad

Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain/wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh.