"India won't expose Varun Chakaravarthy" - Former opener makes huge statement on India's Test concerns ahead of England tour in June

Former Indian batter Navjot Singh Sidhu believes the lack of all-rounders could be a massive challenge for the side to overcome in their upcoming Test tour of England. After an incredible title run in the 2025 Champions Trophy, all eyes are on India's next assignment - a five-test series in England.

While the Indian white-ball unit has been sensational over the last few years, the same cannot be said about the Test side. Team India suffered consecutive Test series defeats to New Zealand at home and Australia down under.

The poor results meant India was eliminated from the World Test Championship (WTC) final for the first time in the tournament's history.

Talking about the concerns for India in their upcoming Test tour of England, Sidhu said on Sports Tak (via Hindustan Times):

"India's biggest problem is that in the middle order there are no all-rounders the way you see in white ball cricket. Is there a Ravindra Jadeja, or Hardik Pandya or Axar Patel? There is only Jadeja among these three and even he will be limited there. Will he take 4-5 wickets in an innings there? No. You will have to bring a mystery spinner with all of them, that is England's weakness. But India won't expose Varun Chakravarthy."

He added:

"Or else they will play Kuldeep. So if these are your four bowlers, none of them bat. Then there is the problem of how to strengthen the batting order. For that you have to depend on someone like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, maybe Arshdeep Singh. These are the questions standing in front of India."

India's success in the recently concluded Champions Trophy was built on the depth in batting and bowling, thanks to the plethora of all-rounders in the squad. However, with Hardik Pandya not playing Tests, India are searching for a genuine pace-bowling all-rounder to enhance their depth in Tests on seaming conditions.

India have relied on Shardul Thakur in the past to perform that role and more recently on Nitish Kumar Reddy in the Test tour of Australia.

"Conditions will shift from North Pole to South Pole" - Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu cautioned the Indian players on the massive difference in conditions from the upcoming IPL to the tour of England. The 2025 IPL season will be played between March 22 and May 25.

Meanwhile, the five-match Test series in England will start under a month after the conclusion of the IPL on June 20.

"The thing to be worried about is that the IPL is now coming up next. No one is ready to sit out the IPL. They will play the league and then all of a sudden comes the England tour. Conditions will shift from North Pole to South Pole. Completely different," said Sidhu.

He added:

"Moreover, India's last Test series in England had started on August 4. This time, it is ending on August 2. The matches are in June and July. There will be grass and moisture and the air will be so heavy that the ball will gain ample movement. And then it will move more off the seam."

India last toured England in 2021-2022 (the final Test was rescheduled to 2022 due to Covid-19) and played the hosts to a 2-2 drawn Test series.