New Delhi, Jun 18: The start of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle represents a chance for new beginnings. India and England are set to kick off a five-Test series, beginning at the Headingley Cricket Ground on Friday (June 20). Both teams are coming into this cycle in search of a fresh start despite boasting contrasting records in the first three editions of the trophy.

India carved out their spot in the ultimate Test in 2021 and 2023 but lost in the finals against New Zealand and Australia, respectively. They missed out on qualifying for their third straight final with consecutive series defeats inflicted by the hands of New Zealand (at home) and their tour of Australia. England, on the other hand, have hosted all three finals of the WTC but have never been able to reach the summit clash.

With a fairly inexperienced bowling attack at their disposal and a young batting order, the Three Lions will be hoping to start on the right foot and change their trajectory in the Test format. A series of this magnitude presents a massive opportunity for all players involved to stand tall in tough, challenging conditions and potentially lead their sides to victory. Here are the players who could have a massive role to play in their side’s fortunes in the coming months.

KL Rahul

How KL Rahul fares in England could very well be the deciding factor for the Indian side. With two of the greatest stalwarts of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, now having stepped away from the format, Rahul is India’s most experienced batter and is expected to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, after the 33-year-old shone brightly in Australia at the top. It also helps that Rahul boasts an impressive record in England with 597 runs in 16 innings as an opener in 2018 and 2021. Rahul is also the only visiting Test opener to record multiple centuries in the country in this period.

Joe Root

Joe Root has been the central pillar of the English batting attack for more than a decade. His ability to score runs, withstand the fire that bowlers spew towards him, and his habit of helping England score big totals have made him one of the best batters of his generation. India are his favourite opponent in terms of runs scored, with 2846 runs across 30 games at an average of 58.08. Root, with 13,006 runs, is fifth in the list of most run scorers in the history of the game behind Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Ricky Ponting (13378), Jacques Kallis (13289) and Rahul Dravid (13288). The 34-year-old Root is the highest scorer for England in red-ball cricket, with Alistair Cook second with 12472 runs in 134 matches.

Karun Nair

While Rahul provides reliability, many Indians could not be more excited to see Karun Nair back in the national team set-up. With a story unlike many others, Nair is expected to be a part of the starting XI for the first time since being dropped after the 2018 England tour, where he did not play despite being in the squad. Nair played 10 County Championship matches across two seasons (2023-2024) for Northamptonshire, scoring 736 runs at 56.61. His return follows a mountain of runs for Vidarbha in the 2024-25 season, including 863 runs at 53.93 in a title-winning Ranji Trophy campaign. Before that, Nair had an impressive 50-over season, hitting five hundreds in eight innings at an average of 389.50 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Jacob Bethell

Jacob Bethell’s spot for the first Test is not confirmed, with him providing competition for vice-captain Ollie Pope at the No.3 spot. Bethell made his debut during the 2024 tour of New Zealand. He scored 260 runs across three Test matches against the Black Caps, which brought him into the conversation for the spot. However, Pope seemingly shut the doors on Bethell’s chances of getting in for the first Test with a 171 against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test. Even if the 21-year-old does not get a chance at Headingley, he could certainly be an important part of the English setup in the coming months.

Chris Woakes

With injury setbacks to Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Olly Stone, the hosts are forced to rely on a relatively inexperienced pace attack featuring Chris Woakes to lead the line. Woakes brings excellent home conditions numbers to his side, providing a bit of experience, having played 34 of his 57 Test matches in England and having picked 137 wickets in the country.

Jasprit Bumrah

Any list of such nature would be incomplete without Jasprit Bumrah. The spearhead has rightly earned the World's number-one ranking in Test bowlers after his heroics in Australia. Even though workload management will see Bumrah play only three of the five Test matches, the 31-year-old is more than capable of wreaking havoc on the English batters.

(IANS)

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