Shubman Gill named India Test captain for England tour as Rohit, Kohli exit format

The announcement was made by BCCI selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar in Mumbai on Saturday. Shubman Gill takes over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma, who recently retired from Test cricket

Hyderabad: Shubman Gill, who is having a dream run as captain of the Gujarat Titans in the on-going IPL, has been named captain of the Indian team that will tour England next month.

This was announced by the BCCI chairman of selection panel chairman Ajit Agarkar in Mumbai on Saturday.

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Gill succeeds Rohit Sharma who announced his retirement from Test cricket and with the other big name of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli, too following him by quitting Test cricket, he was the obvious choice.

The notable absentee in the team is pacer Mohammed Shami who had a disappointing run in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Expectedly, B. Sai Sudharsan, whoplaying for Gujarat Titans in the IPL is the leading run-getter, gets the nod from the selectors and this was not surprising given the kind of form he was in with the bat and also the technical competence he showed in handling different bowlers in different conditions and with a touch of class.

The five Tests against England will be India’s first in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle. They play the first Test at Headingley (from June 20), the second at Edgbaston (from July 2), the third at Lord’s (from July 10), the fourth at Old Trafford (from July 23), and the final at The Oval (from July 31).

They begin the tour with a four-day match against India A at Beckenham on the outskirts of London between June 13 and 16.

Ajit Agarkar comments on team selection

Significantly, Agarkar pointed out during the media briefing after the Indian team selection that the pace ace Jasprit Bumrah would not be available for all the five Test matches in the series in England.

“Even if it is three or four, he is going to win us the games. He is fit and ready, thankfully,” he said.

Agarkar also said that Bumrah would be needed more as a player. “We would rather have him bowling than putting extra pressure on him. KL, not really. He has captained a while back. We hope he has a big series,” he said.

The chairman of the selection panel said that he was confident of Gill’s leadership potential.

“Last year or so, we have looked at Shubman’s captaincy. We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take the team forward). It is a high-pressure job, but he is a terrific player. We wish him all the best,” Agarkar said.

“You want to name a captain who can help the team going forward rather than having someone for one or two tours. It is going to be as tough as it gets, maybe he will learn on the job, but we have seen what he can do and that is the reason we picked him,” said.

“It is always difficult when seniors retire (on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli). But it is also an opportunity. You have to respect their decision; they have earned that. We will obviously miss them. It is a new cycle, an opportunity to build something,” Agarkar said.

“Those three guys are stalwarts of our cricket. It’s always difficult. One way of looking at it is, it’s an opportunity for someone else. They’ve left a legacy behind,” he said.

Agarkar said Kohli had ‘reached out in early April’ to say that he wanted to finish. “We’ve seen him give 200% to every ball that he plays. If he can’t keep up to the standards that he’s set himself over the years, how good he’s been, maybe it was time for him,” he said.

The team:
Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh