England vice-captain Ollie Pope said that India will miss the aura of Virat Kohli during the five-match Test series. Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the series. The decision came days after the retirement of Rohit Sharma. Pope said that the new Indian team, led by Shubman Gill, has plenty of depth and talent, but they'll miss Kohli's chirping from the slips. Pope went on to add that England are ready for the challenge.

"It’s a young team, but these Indian players they have got so much depth and talent. So they’ve got a lot of young guys coming through; a lot of good players. Shubman Gill, their new captain, is a fantastic player. They will miss the aura of Virat Kohli standing at slips and chirping away. But they have got some good talent, so they will feel confident. But our players are ready for it,” Pope told talkSPORT Cricket.

Pope further said it is nice to play India at the start of the summer, terming the series a vital preparation for the marquee Ashes. “It’s a great time for us to play India. Last summer, we had the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but with India coming over, the level of quality that they will bring is a great way for us to focus on that and not look too far ahead.

“So yeah, for us, it’s the perfect time to play India, and then once the Ashes come around, it will be exciting.”

India have not won a series in England since 2007 when Rahul Dravid led the team to glory. India, however, did well on the last tour in 2021-2022, drawing the series 2-2.

India’s squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

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