Shubhman Gill, who played his first Test for India just five years ago, will lead the team into a new era after he was named the captain for the five-match series in England, starting June 20.
In what ultimately proved to be a formality, Gill was named as ’s successor following a meeting of the selection committee at the cricket board headquarters at Wankhede Stadium. Gill will be India’s 37th Test captain. His deputy for the England tour will be .
Rohit announced his retirement from red-ball cricket last month. Weeks later, former captain , too, hung his whites. Both veterans have chosen to continue playing the 50-over format.
As reported earlier this week, pacer was dropped from the squad, with the selectors unsure of his ability to handle the workload, especially since pace-bowling partner , too, is unavailable for all five Tests.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, 29, who replaced during the 2021 tour of England and was a reserve opener, was named in the squad and will be in the running to make his Test debut.
Another player set to earn his first India cap in the red-ball format is Sai Sudharsan. The left-handed batsman from has been on the radar since scoring a ton on his first-class debut three years ago.
Sudharsan and Easwaran will be in contention, along with , to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. This will be among the first major calls Gill will have to take as the captain.
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said Gill’s elevation as the captain was taken after seeing his ‘progress in the last year or two’.
“You don’t pick captains for one or two tours. You want to invest in something that will help us going forward. You are hoping it’s the right call. You are seeing progress in the last year or two. It is going to be as tough as it gets. Maybe he’ll have to learn on the job. But we are very confident and that is the reason we have picked him,” Agarkar said.
Curiously, Gill was dropped mid-way through a series – in two out of the five matches during India’s last Test tour, to Australia. At that point, it seemed inevitable that Jasprit Bumrah, who led India to a famous win in Perth in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy encounter, would take over as the Test team captain.
Just then, Bumrah injured his back at the Sydney Test and subsequently missed three months of cricket. The fact that he will play just three Tests in England further meant that the team needed a leader who’d be fit and feature in all matches.
Regarding Shami, Agarkar said it was ‘unfortunate’ to drop him. “He’s been trying to get fit but he’s had a little bit of setback. He is not able to play five tests and his workload at the moment isn’t where it should be. If he’s not fit at the moment, we rather plan with guys who are fit and available,” Agarkar said.
Shubhman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (VC/WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, , Nitish Reddy, , Dhruv Jurel (WK), , Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akashdeep, ,
Schedule: 1st Test, Headingley (Leeds): June 20-24; 2nd Test: Edgbaston (Birmingham): July 2 to 6; 3rd Test: Lord’s (London): July 10-14; 4th Test: Old Trafford (Manchester): July 23-27; 5th Test: The Oval (London): July 31-August 4
