While the wait for India's new Test captain to be named, the Ajit Agarkar-led led gave a sneak peak into how the Indian cricket team for the five-match Test series against England will look like after naming the India 'A' squad for the shadow tour where they will play two unofficial Test matches against England Lions as well as an intra-squad match against the senior team.

The first match of the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led team against the Lions will begin on May 30 in Canterbury. Runmured Captain-to-be Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharshan, who are likely to earn a Test debut in England, will not play that match after the BCCI confirmed that both players will only join the 'A' squad before the second match from June 6. The Gujarat Titans (GT) are likely to be involved in the IPL playoffs which is clashing with the first match..

Skipper Easwaran is set to open the batting with Jaiswal. Despite being snubbed for captaincy, Ruturaj is likely to bat at number three for the squad. The choice of number four will be interesting with a fight between Karun Nair and Sarfaraz Khan. While Karun has impressed in domestic cricket, Sarfaraz has a far more impressive record in first-class cricket for a longer time and has also been part of the Indian red-ball squad for more than year now, which should get him the nod to start with.

Dhurv Jurel has been named as the vice-captain of the side, which means he will the starting wicket-keeper, which means Ishan Kishan will have to warm the bench. After his impressive display in Australia, Nitish Kumar Reddy is among India's most important young talents in red-ball cricket, while India is likely to need a big contribution from Shardul Thakur in the Test series. Both are set to get a place in the starting XI.

Among the three spinners, India has picked only one who will feature in the XI. After a maiden test call-up during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Tanush Kotian emerges as the favourite. Khaleel Ahmed is set to play with no other left-arm pacer in the squad. The remaining two spots should be taken by Harshit Rana and Akash Deep, who both played two Test matches in Australia.

India 'A' Likely XI vs England Lions In 1st Unofficial Test: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yahasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian, Harshit Rana, Khaleel Ahmed, Akash Deep.

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