India's tours of England 2025: Nair begins England tour with 186*; Sarfaraz, Jurel hit fifties (2026)

Sarfaraz and Jurel also provided timely reminder of what they bring to the side in these conditions. Against a largely inexperienced Lions bowling attack, they made merry. Sarfaraz would feel he missed out after being dismissed on 92. Jurel is unbeaten on 82 and has a century for the taking.

Karun Nair bit his lip at the first mistake he had committed when, 11 runs away from what would be his 24th first-class century, he played at a delivery that he could have possibly left alone from Ajeet Singh Dale. But Emilio Gay, at second slip, failed to pouch an easy catch offering Nair the opportunity he encashed happily post the tea break by raising his bat to celebrate the landmark.

While the Lions’ bowling attack is barely experienced, the century is significant for Nair, who will be contention for the middle-order slot in the first Test in Leeds.

He would have walked back post the tea break assured in his mind of getting to the century. However, eight short of the ton, Sarfaraz wafted at what was an innocuous straight delivery that was going down leg side. The bottom edge was brilliantly picked up neatly by Lions captain and wicketkeeper James Rew low to his left. It was a loose shot and while Sarfaraz would blame the break, he would also be the first to admi it was entirely an avoidable error. While Sarfaraz is not part of the Test squad, a big century overseas is always is good to keep the selectors interested.

A long toil for the Lions bowlers. Nair and Sarfaraz ground them. There weren't too many extravagant strokes. Sarfaraz opened up towards the end of that session. He first lofted Rehan over his head and then slog-swept offspinner Dan Mousley over midwicket. There also featured a Zaman Akhter over where he hit three fours - all through the arc between point and third. A chanceless innings from Sarfaraz so far.

Nair wouldn't have survived the session if second slip had managed to hang on to the edge off Ajeet Singh Dale. Nair was on 89 then and it was the final over of the session.

Jofra Archer is in Canterbury, chatting with England managing director Rob Key on the boundary’s edge. England initially hoped that he’d make his red-ball comeback in one of these Lions fixtures, but the thumb injury he sustained at the IPL has pushed that back, and he has some heavy strapping on it this afternoon.

Key told Sky Sports last week that Archer’s injury – which ruled him out of England’s ongoing ODI series against West Indies – had set him back by “a couple of weeks”. Key said: “The whole plan with Jofra was more about getting four-day cricket into him… He’ll probably play the Championship games for Sussex [at the end of June]. He’ll be ready, we thought around the second Test; it might be the third Test now, but we’ll wait and see. It’s nothing too serious.”

Brydon Carse (toe) and Chris Woakes (ankle) both missed England’s Test against Zimbabwe during their own comebacks, but have since returned to play Championship cricket. Carse took 1 for 39 – and an outstanding catch at deep square leg – in England’s win over West Indies yesterday, while Woakes is due to play for the Lions in Northampton next week. England also insist that Gus Atkinson will be fit for the first Test against India despite a hamstring strain.

It has been 20 years since it suffered a violent death. Great words and poems have been written about it. Cowdrey wished, as his last act on earth, to hit a four towards this legend, which survived both the World Wars to live and tell its own tale. Before it started ailing around 1998, batters were challenged to clear it – eventually only three managed in its 200-plus year lifetime. Eventually when it died, confronted by a gale force wind, multitude of obits and condolence poured from across the world. Keating aptly noted, the “gushing” obits befitted a mini Royal.

I am talking about the Canterbury Lime, which has its own space in history of cricket.

PS: The book in the picture is from the sports shop inside Spitfire Ground

Nair and Sarfaraz Khan snatched back any psychological edge England Lions might have momentarily gained with Jaiswal’s wicket. Nair was watchful, but not letting go of any scoring opportunities, picking some fluent cover driven fours. Sarfaraz, too, got into rhythm quickly as Lions’ bowlers fed him either hit-me lengths or bowled too wide.

It has been ten days since Jaiswal played in Rajasthan Royals’ final match of IPL 2025, hitting 19-ball 36 with seven boundaries including two sixes. With the India A games overlapping with the rescheduled IPL playoffs, there’s always the danger of taking time in making the necessary shift, both in mind and technique. On Friday, Jaiswal had shown enough restraint to not go chasing at balls. Of course, if the delivery was bad, as the hip-high short delivery from Hull early on was, Jaiswal did the needful to spank it high over deep square leg for the first six of the morning.

Post the first drinks-break, though, Jaiswal was challenged by the discipline of Zaman Akhter, who bowled lengths that forced the left-hander to play and miss. Did that affect him? Probably. Against a length delivery that was angling away towards fifth stump from Eddie Jack, who was bowling from the Nackington Road end, Jaiswal went for a wild slog and was easily caught behind.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, at the other end, has batted like someone who's played Test cricket recently. The confidence reflects in his flying start. He picked a short one from Hull early to pull it over deep midwicket. Importantly, the pair has seen off the opening spell from the new-ball bowlers.

"England are playing an interesting style of cricket which is interesting because I don't really understand it too much," he added. "But as a bowling unit, we always feel confident that when the batters are being ultra-aggressive, on a given day, anybody could run through and get wickets."

Currently, he is with India A in Canterbury, preparing for the first four-day game against England Lions that starts on Friday. Here's a sneak peek of his net session.

"He'll play in the Test series over there,” Ponting told PTI. “Bumrah Siraj, you know, to have a left-arm option there as well, I think it'd be outstanding. And you think of any English conditions, the way that Arshdeep bowls, he presents the seam as good as anybody, right-arm or left-arm, that's currently playing the game.

"I think he could play the first Test over there and he wouldn't let anybody down. I think it's the right time for him as well. He is in his sort of mid-20s, probably right now at the peak of his powers, I think it'd be a great selection for India in those Test matches."

Arshdeep had received his maiden call-up to the India Test squad for the five-match series in England. The other quicks in the 18-man squad are Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Shardul Thakur.

There’s going to be a lot happening, so this is your one-stop destination for everything informative and entertaining during these tours. List of events, in chronological order, and resources that will give you a bird's-eye view of the summer.

Unofficial Tests (May 30 to June 16): India A begin their tour under Abhimanyu Easwaran with two unofficial Tests against England Lions before taking on the India Test team in a warm-up game.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur are part of the A team as well as the Test team. So are Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan who could join the A squad for the second unofficial Test after completing their IPL duties.

Five men's Tests (June 20 to August 4): The first assignment for both India and England in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle is also the showpiece event as India's Test team begins a new era under Shubman Gill, following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Gill's predecessors as captain.

Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to play all five Tests due to a cautious approach to his workload. Mohammed Shami did not make the squad as he was not fully fit. Ajit Agarkar, India's chairman of selectors, answered all the important questions around selection here.

England, who did not lose a home series in the previous WTC cycle, will hope to start strong while keeping an eye on preparing for the Ashes in Australia later in the year. They haven't finalised their squad yet and have concerns over their fast bowlers. Mark Wood has been ruled out of the series. They also have Tim Southee as a special skills assistant in place of James Anderson.

Under 19 Tests and ODIs (June 24 to July 20): Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the 14-year-old prodigy, and Ayush Mhatre, who debuted for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, will be part of India's Under-19 line-up that will face England Under-19s in five Youth ODIs and two Youth Tests.

Women's white-ball series (June 28 to July 22): England and India will play five T20Is followed by three ODIs, India's final 50-over series before the Women's ODI World Cup at home in September. It will also be Nat Sciver-Brunt's second assignment after taking over from Heather Knight as England captain.

Shafali Verma was not picked in India's ODI squad but made it back to the T20I squad. England are currently hosting West Indies in ODIs and T20Is and are yet to announce their squads.

Between June 21 and July 3, India will also play a Mixed Disability T20 series comprising seven matches in England, including one at Lord’s on June 25, the 42nd anniversary of India’s victory in the 1983 ODI World Cup final.

The summer kicks off with India A training today ahead of their four-day fixture against the Lions in Canterbury, from where we hope Nagraj Gollapudi will have updates for us very soon.