Batting star Shubman Gill was on Saturday entrusted with India’s Test leadership to steer through a “massive transition” phase with the swashbuckling Rishabh Pant as his deputy for next month’s tour of England that is expected to be nothing short of a trial by fire. At 25 years of age, Gill will be India’s fourth youngest Test captain after Sachin Tendulkar (23), Kapil Dev (24) and Ravi Shastri (25). The five-match series against England will begin on June 20 in Leeds. “Last year or so we have looked at Shubman (for leadership). 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,” said chief selector Ajit Agarkar after announcing the squad, which offered no major surprises.
“Pant is one of our best batters in Test cricket over the last four-five years. A wicketkeeper can see the game well and that’s why he is Shubman’s deputy,” Agarkar added while explaining the 27-year-old Pant’s role.
The selectors’ decision on the team’s leadership was on expected lines following the retirement of senior stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom called it quits within a week of each other earlier this month.
Young left-hander B Sai Sudharsan and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh earned their maiden Test call-up.
“Sai has not been picked based on IPL, he has shown the right temperament and has the game to succeed at the top level…we have been looking at him for a while,” Agarkar said, referring to Sudharsan’s fine IPL form.
Persistent Nair in; unfit Shami out
The squad also features Karun Nair, who returns to the national set-up after eight years. Having last played in 2017, Nair was dropped from the team soon after becoming the second triple centurion in Tests from India.
A notable exclusion was pacer Mohammed Shami, who was deemed not fit enough for the long series.
“His workload is not where it needs to be. We were hoping he will be available but it is unfortunate. At the moment he is not fully fit,” Agarkar said in the press conference.
From the tour of Australia, Harshit Rana and Sarfaraz Khan have been dropped.
Besides Gill, Bumrah was another strong contender for the captaincy job but the selectors decided to hand over the leadership responsibility to the 25-year-old batterfrom Punjab.
Gill’s rare talent is undisputed but he is yet to prove himself in Test cricket, especially in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries.
“It is a massive transition. Both Rohit and Virat were around for a long time,” added Agarkar who was sitting alongside his selection panel colleague S S Das.
India’s Squad for Test tour of England:
Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun nair, Nitish Redddy, Ravindra Kadeja, Dhurv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep singh and Kuldeep Yadav.
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