The Indian Test team has officially entered its long-awaited transitional phase when Shubman Gill was named as the captain for the upcoming five-match tour of England, with Rishabh Pant named his deputy. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar admitted that it’s always tough to fill in big holes left by retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin. The last time a Test played without Rohit, Kohli and Ashwin was on tour of England in 2011.
“When guys like that retire, always big holes to fill. Ashwin also retired. Those three have been stalwarts. Always difficult. One way of looking at it is, opportunity for someone else. Had conversations with both of them.”
“Virat reached out early April, seen him give 200% on every ball he plays even when he’s not batting or on the field. Felt he’d given everything he had, if he can’t keep up to the standards it was time for him. It’s come from him. Have to respect that. They’ve earned that respect.”
“It is a new WTC cycle, you are looking at whole lot of scenarios. All we need to do is show them respect and move on. It is a big job and big transition. We are all confident that Gill is the guy to take us forward. We are all very hopeful,” said Agarkar in the press conference at the BCCI HQ on Saturday.
Karun Nair, who’s handed a Test call-up after seven years on the back of consistent performances in domestic cricket, has been backed by Agarkar to come good in England after getting the nod ahead of Sarfaraz Khan. “Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test (vs New Zealand) and then didn’t get runs. Sometimes it’s decisions the team management takes.”
“At the moment, Karun has scored heaps of runs in domestic, has played a bit of Test cricket, played a bit of county cricket. With Virat not there, clearly we’re lacking a bit of experience. We felt his experience could help. “
With Mohammed Shami not fully fit, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has been handed a maiden Test call-up. Both Arshdeep and Karun have had county stints with Kent and Northamptonshire respectively.
“He’s a quality bowler and has had a taste of county as well. he plays domestic when he can. A tall guy, can bowl with the new ball, has body of work in red-ball cricket and in recent form in the last couple of years. Bumrah unlikely to play all five Tests, we needed a bit of variety.”
Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy are the seam-bowling all-rounders, with Agarkar backing the duo to shine in England. “Shardul a bowling allrounder, sometimes you need a player like that depending on team balance. he’s going on the A tour as well. Nitish is a batting allrounder at this point, hopefully his bowling will come along as well.”
Agarkar signed off by saying there’s no room at the moment for Shreyas Iyer in the Test team. “Shreyas had a good one-day series, played well in domestic as well but right now there’s no room in Test cricket.”
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