Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has expressed disappointment over Shreyas Iyer being left out of India’s Test squad for the upcoming series against England. Shreyas has been in excellent form over the past year and was the leading run-scorer for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. With senior batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma absent, many expected Shreyas to secure a spot in the middle order, but he didn’t make the final cut. Ganguly feels that Shreyas’s recent performances clearly warranted his selection.
“He’s been playing some of his best cricket in the last year and deserved to be in the team,” Ganguly told the news agency. “He’s not the kind of player who should be left out. He’s scoring runs under pressure, taking responsibility, and handling short balls well. Test cricket is a different challenge, but I would have liked to see him in this series to find out what he can do.”
On the other side, England have a rising star in teenage fast bowler Eddie Jack, who’s been invited to practice with the senior team ahead of the first Test against India. Jack impressed during two four-day matches for the England Lions against India A. The five-match Test series between India and England kicks off at Headingley on June 20, marking the start of a new World Test Championship cycle.
The 19-year-old seamer from Hampshire made waves by dismissing India’s KL Rahul, who scored a century earlier in the second unofficial Test at Northampton. Standing tall at 6-foot-4, Jack has caught the attention of England’s coaching staff, including Andrew Flintoff, Mark Wood, and Graeme Swann, according to the news agency. Though Jack hasn’t yet debuted in the County Championship, he has already played two first-class games against India A and represented England U-19s in South Africa earlier this year.
Last month, Jack also took five wickets in a warm-up match against Zimbabwe while playing for a combined counties XI. In Northampton, he consistently troubled India’s Test batsmen, including Nitish Reddy and Dhruv Jurel. Jack eventually dismissed Jurel, who was the player of the match in the 2022 Ranchi Test against England and finished with bowling figures of 2/71 in the second innings.