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Team India will begin their new cycle in the World Test Championships (WTC) 2025-27 with the five-match series against England. The Test series will get underway at Headingley in Leeds from Friday (June 20). The Indian side will be led by first-time skipper Shubman Gill who is taking charge in the Test format from this series after the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last month. But the visitors suffered a big blow when their head coach Gautam Gambhir had to fly back to India abruptly in the middle of their preparation for the first Test. Gambhir has flown back to New Delhi after his mother Seema Gambhir suffered a heart attack and was admitted in ICU in a hospital in New Delhi. The former India opener missed Team India’s intra-squad match played over the weekend in Beckenham Kent. However there is some good news for Shubman Gill’s side on Monday as Gambhir is set to fly back to England on Monday night and should be joining up with the team in Leeds on Tuesday well ahead of their first Test. “His mother is doing well now. Gautam will leave tomorrow and join the squad the same day” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI news agency. In Gambhir’s absence assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and bowling coach Morne Morkel supervised the team’s preparation ahead of the five-match series. They were joined by NCA head VVS Laxman who had come to London on a personal trip from Switzerland.   CAPTAIN SHUBMAN GILL. 🗣️🇮🇳pic.twitter.com/Jzhr9k8G9y — Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 15 2025 According to Cricbuzz website Laxman isn’t in London on any ‘official capacity’. “He has gone there for some other purpose not on any assignment with the Indian team. He travelled to London from Lausanne” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. “The target is to win in England and he may have spoken to the coaches and selectors present here and perhaps even attended the intra-squad game. But he holds no official role with this team” the source told the website. Former India batter had gone to Lausanne to attend a meeting. “He went to Switzerland and simply stopped by in London to spend time with the boys. It was always part of his plan” the website quoted a BCCI source. Meanwhile the Shubman Gill-led Indian Test squad are searching for their first Test series win in England since 2007.