India's reorder begins in Leeds, where order rarely holds

The walk up the slope from Cardigan Road towards Headingley throws up a peculiar sight: a neglected and abandoned relic. It's an old bear pit from the short-lived Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens of the 1800s. The zoo folded quickly under financial strain; the brown bear was eventually sold off with the rest. It's a weirdly fitting image to stumble upon before entering the famous stadium, a place where things can quickly veer off plan, where the past clings to the present in strange ways, like in the form of graffiti on the street's utility boxes that honour Botham and Willis and Stokes and Leach.

But, Headingley has retained a quintessentially English vibe: low stands intimately close to the action, shifting cloud patterns, and the ball snaking about. Like the Gabba is to Australia, this ground reflects something elemental about England's cricket. But where Brisbane long served as a launchpad for Australian dominance over visiting teams, Leeds can be less definitive and more unpredictable. No surprise, then, that it's often the setting for mid-series drama and only ever chosen to start a Test series nine times in England's long history.

But this week, it promises one certainty. It will bring together the game's current top-ranked batter (Joe Root), bowler (Jasprit Bumrah) and all-rounder (Ravindra Jadeja) to serve up a delicious start of a five-course meal. Other venues in this series are still waiting on Bumrah's workload status. In a transitioning Indian team suddenly bereft of experience and star power, Bumrah is the one linchpin with the ability to bend the series to his will. He's a piece even the Bazballers have yet to crack. And England rattled Australia here two summers ago with their blazing approach. They even caught India off guard in the subcontinent, briefly. But they erred there by not picking enough bowling to finish the job, to match India's depth and quality, spell for spell, day for day.

A year on, the same question flips to India: can they be braver than England were last year, or than they themselves were more recently in Australia. Brave enough to pick attacks that can take 20 wickets. Because there are possibilities when you flip departments. As Rishabh Pant pointed out, they won't have to face James Anderson or Stuart Broad. One of them has the trophy co-named after him. The other is commentating, leaving behind two frontline seamers with just eight Tests between them. But throw in a fit-again Woakes and a fully involved Stokes in these conditions, and it's like having Ashwin and Jadeja at home for India, batting depth, bowling teeth in helpful conditions, all rolled into one.

And so begins the journey for India's Gen-Z captain, not in a fortress, but in a place where control is an illusion. Where bear pits crumble, legends cling to walls, and matches rarely follow the script. For India, this isn't just the start of a series, it's the start of something bigger. A new team, a new cycle, and even a new trophy, named after Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar, two giants of the modern game, now fittingly etched into the frame of what follows.

When: England vs India, 1st Test, June 20-24 2025, 15:30 IST, 11:00 Local

Where:Headingley, Leeds

What to expect:The surface wears a greenish tinge on the eve of the Test but is expected to ease out after offering some help early but with hot and sunny weather predicted for the duration of the Test, it should ease out and get progressively better for batting. Recent history at Headingley suggests teams will prefer to bowl first - both the two latest county matches played here in May followed that script.

Team News:

England

The hosts named their XI on the eve of the game, retaining Ollie Pope at No. 3 over Jacob Bethell. Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue will get first crack as a fast bowling pair.

Playing XI:Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir

India

All signs point to Karun Nair's return to the Indian Test XI after eight years, at No.3. The toss up for the sixth batter then comes down to Nitish Reddy and Sai Sudharsan and on evidence of the practice sessions, the all-rounder is set to start the series and have four fast bowlers following him in the XI with Shardul Thakur best suited for No. 8.

Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy/Sai Sudharsan, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Did you know?

- The last time India played here, they were bundled out for 78 in their first innings, their third-lowest total in England. Their second-highest total in this country - 628 - also came at this venue.

- Bumrah needs five wickets to become the first Indian bowler to take 150 wickets in SENA countries. Only Wasim Akram (146) has more among Asian bowlers.

- Joe Root has 2846 runs at 58.08 and 10 hundreds against India. No one has scored more runs vs India in Tests. But he has been dismissed 9 times in the format by Bumrah.

What they said:

"I think the Test series that we played against England in India was one of the best series that I have been part of. And even in that Test series, not many of our senior players were available in every match. And how we went about that series was the way that I think this series is also going to be. I mean, if you look at the series scorecard, I think it was about 4-1, but the number wasn't really justified how tough that series was for us." - Shubman Gill harks back to last year's series between the sides.

"I think this is correct but since me and Baz have been captain and coach, I don't think we've actually lost a game with Woakesy in the team. So again that just proves how much of a valuable cricketer he is to any team that he's turned out for. I think him being the leader of the attack, he's going to thrive off that responsibility and yeah he's a quality cricketer, you know, the relentlessness that he has with the ball, whether that be new ball or old ball, and then having his ability with a bat down at number eight obviously that's a plus." - Ben Stokes is aware of all the numbers.