London, June 12 -- Ahead of England's five-match Test series against India at home, head coach Brendon McCullum hailed young all-rounder Jacob Bethell, saying that he is already becoming a "leader" in the dressing room and has a "good life in front of him".

Bethell, 21, will be among players' to watch out for as a new-look English squad kickstarts their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2025-27 against India, who are themselves transitioning from retirements of star batters Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma from Tests and Ravichandran Ashwin in international cricket.

He impressed during the white-ball series against West Indies, scoring knocks of 82 and 17 in ODIs, while playing quickfire cameos of 23*, 26 and 36* during T20Is. He also pi...