Pant's roof-breaking stunner to Gill-Bumrah face off: What transpired in India's nets session ahead of 1st England Test?

Beckenham [UK], June 10 (ANI): Roof-breaking hits, a star-studded face-off and plenty of warming up and pep talks summarised India's practice session on Monday ahead of their first Test against England, starting from June 20 with the first Test at Leeds.

The Test series would very well be an era-defining one in Indian cricket history, as after the retirement of two legends, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, a new-look Team India would be eyeing a fresh start in ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle of 2025-27 under captaincy of newly-appointed red-ball captain Shubman Gill.

A video of players was posted on Instagram handle of the Indian cricket team with several players including skipper Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja seen in action.

The coaching staff, including head coach Gautam Gambhir, were also seen talking to players, guiding them as they sweat it out in nets.

Gill and Pant were among the players who did some batting practice, while Siraj and Bumrah were seen throwing down balls. The team also took part in some fielding drills led by fielding coach T Dilip.

As per a video from ESPNCricinfo on Instagram, a massive part of this practice session was a one-on-one battle between Bumrah and skipper Gill. Bumrah looked at his unplayable best against Gill, who had no choice to either struggle or to just leave the ball altogether.

Another attractive sight during the session was Pant tonking a massive six on a Washington Sundar delivery, which broke a part of the roof of the facility at Beckenham, as per an ESPNCricinfo video on Instagram.

The series will be held from June to August 2025, with matches scheduled at Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord's and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.

India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)