Team India all-rounder clobbers 122* off 68 balls in intra-squad match ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

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Team India all-rounder Shardul Thakur slammed 122* off just 68 balls in the intra-squad match between India and India A in Beckenham on Sunday, June 15. The match was called off midway through Day 3 by the team management although it was supposed to be a four-day practice game.

The intra-squad squad was India's only warm-up game ahead of the five-match Test series against England, while begins at Headingley in Leeds from Friday, June 20. India will be led by newly-appointed captain Shubman Gill.

"Team India's intra-squad game has ended. A complete day off on 16th June. The team will leave for Leeds on 17th June," the Times of India quoted BCCI as saying.

The report added that Thakur's hundred came against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. Earlier, on Day 2, another Mumbai cricketer Sarfaraz Khan had slammed 101 from 76 balls in the intra-squad clash. Thakur was unbeaten on 19 on stumps on Day 2 before completing his ton on Sunday.

Thakur's performance in the intra-squad match will bring him in contention for a place in the Indian playing XI in the first Test in Leeds. Before scoring a hundred in Beckenham, he also picked up four wickets with his medium pace. The 33-year-old could be locked in a tussle with fellow all-rounder Nitish Reddy for one of the slots.

Thakur was not picked in the Indian team for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Reddy played all five Tests in Australia and was among India's most consistent batters. He crossed 40 in three of his first four innings and then slammed a hundred in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. He failed to make too much of an impact with the ball, though, claiming just five wickets.

Thakur was recalled to the Test team for the upcoming series against England following his stellar performances in domestic cricket. He has so far played 11 Tests for India in which he has claimed 31 wickets at an average of 28.38, with one five-wicket haul and one four-wicket haul. The 33-year-old is also a handy lower order batter and has notched up four half-centuries in Test cricket.