Former Indian cricketer Piyush Chawla expressed confidence in India’s new-look Test squad for their upcoming five-match England tour, while attending the engagement ceremony of Indian cricket player Rinku Singh with Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj in Lucknow on June 8.“They are not very experienced at the international level, but they have played a lot of cricket and know how to deal with the situations. Things will be better,” Chawla said about the England tour squad.The England Test series, beginning June 20, marks the start of India’s ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle and introduces a new era under Shubman Gill’s captaincy following Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirements.The Indian Test squad includes Shubman Gill as captain and Rishabh Pant as vice-captain, along with players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah among others.Regarding Rinku Singh’s engagement, Chawla offered his congratulations saying, “My best wishes to both of them.”Former Indian cricketer Praveen Kumar, who also attended the ceremony, shared his thoughts: “The ceremony was good. I wish them all the best for this new inning.”
Chawla, who announced his retirement from all formats on Friday, began his career at age 15 representing India Under-19 and Uttar Pradesh U-22. He helped Uttar Pradesh secure their first Ranji Trophy in his debut first-class season with 35 wickets and 224 runs.In his international career, Chawla played 35 matches across formats for India, claiming 43 wickets with an average of 35.76 and an economy of 4.75.His Indian Premier League career saw him represent various teams including Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, and Mumbai Indians, taking 192 wickets in 192 matches at an average of 26.60.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?Rinku Singh, the 27-year-old who got engaged, has played 33 T20Is and two ODIs for India. He has become a regular in the T20 format since the T20 World Cup.In T20 internationals, Rinku has scored 546 runs in 24 innings at an average of 42.00 and a strike rate of 161.06, including three half-centuries. He made his T20I debut against Ireland in 2023.Rinku was part of the gold medal-winning Indian cricket team at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.In his ODI career, Rinku has scored 55 runs in two matches. He has also been a key player for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, scoring 1099 runs in 59 matches at a strike rate of 145.20 with four half-centuries.