R Ashwin picks India’s playing 11 for IND vs ENG 2025 1st T20I; no place for BGT debutant

Former Team India spinner R Ashwin recently named his preferred India playing XI for the Men in Blue's T20I series opener against England. The first match of the five-match series will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22.

Ashwin backed keeper-batter Sanju Samson to open the batting alongside swashbuckling left-handed batter Abhishek Sharma. The veteran bowler opined that Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma would be the No. 3 and No. 4, depending on the situation.

For the role of the finishers, talismanic all-rounder Hardik Pandya and dynamic batter Rinku Singh made the cut in Ashwin's XI. Vice-captain Axar Patel was the spin-bowling all-rounder in the 38-year-old's lineup, while he reckoned that there would be a toss-up between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar.

Right-arm pacer Harshit Rana, who made his debut in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener in Perth against Australia, didn't find a place in Ashwin's playing XI as he picked Arshdeep Singh and the returning Mohammed Shami as the two frontline fast bowlers, with Varun Chakravarthy as the genuine spinner.

Ashwin named his preferred playing XI for the first T20I between India and England in a video shared on his Hindi YouTube channel 'Ash ki Baat'. In the video, he also emphasized that we could see both India and England use a lot of floaters in their respective batting orders.

He pointed out that while a couple of years back batters were apprehensive of changing their usual batting positions, it is bound to change in the current T20 era. Ashwin said (from 2:16):

"This T20 era is about floaters. It is going to happen from both sides. If we first talk a little about the past three-four years, if you see, all the batsmen wouldn't be happy with batting in different positions and would prefer playing at their regular positions. But the bowlers used to construct the 20 overs differently. In this T20 era, this is not going to happen. During India's last series against Bangladesh, when Gautam Gambhir was the coach, we saw that a lot of batsmen were floating in the order."

R Ashwin's Indian playing XI: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy/Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami

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"Bangladesh is no testament to India's skill" - R Ashwin believes the England series is India's first big challenge since 2024 T20 World Cup triumph

India's T20 team saw major changes following their 2024 T20 World Cup triumph. Senior players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retired from T20Is following the showpiece event.

Suryakumar Yadav was named as the new T20I skipper and Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach following Rahul Dravid's departure. The Men in Blue faced teams like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa after their ICC title win.

R Ashwin believes that while India did well against the aforementioned teams, their first big test will be the upcoming five-match series against England. He said in the aforementioned video (from 7:00):

"India are playing an aggressive brand of cricket. How will India play with this brand of cricket against England? We played against Bangladesh, but obviously, Bangladesh is no testament to India's skill. India playing the IPL, playing against Bangladesh, I think that series was a series of misfits. I don't think it was a series at all to take into consideration. All the T20 players got a chance in South Africa and they performed well there. Still, South Africa rested a lot of players because many players did not take the central contract, while a lot of bowlers were rested ahead of the Test season."

It is worth mentioning that Suryakumar Yadav is yet to lose a series as India's T20I captain. He claimed series wins over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa. He also led the team in a three-match away series against the Proteas in 2023, which ended in a tie.