England vs India: Gautam Gambhir flies back home due to a family emergency

Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir flew back home from England due to a family emergency, according to reports published on ESPNCricinfo. Notably, Gambhir travelled to England alongside the India A squad to monitor their performance in the two-match unofficial Test series against England Lions.

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It’s important to note that this was the second instance when Gambhir flew back home from an overseas tour due to a family emergency. Earlier, he flew to India from Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 season.

It’s worth noting that in Gambhir's absence, Sitanshu Kotak and Ryan ten Doeschate, the assistant coaches, along with bowling coach Morne Morkel, will take care of the Indian cricket team while Hrishikesh Kanitkar is in charge of the India A squad.

"Team India's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is returning to India from England due to a family emergency," news agency ANI quoted sources as saying on Friday.

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Furthermore, Gambhir is expected to join the team in a week ahead of the start of the England Test series on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. Notably, the five-match Test series will be a part of the new World Test Championship cycle.

The five-match Test series is scheduled to take place from June and August. Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord's and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester will host these matches.

India's Test squad for the England series

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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.

England squad for the first Test against India

Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

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