India's national selectors on Saturday chose right-handed batter Shubman Gill ahead of the more experienced Jasprit Bumrah and K.L Rahul as Test captain of the senior men's squad to tour England for a five-match series starting June 20. Gill is India’s 37th Test captain.
With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their retirement from the longest format of the game, Gill along with pace spearhead Bumrah and KL Rahul had emerged as the contender for the post. But the selection committee led by former pacer Ajit Agarkar opted for Gill ahead of Bumrah, who Agarkar said is unlikely to play all five Test matches, and Rahul, who, the selectors felt has captained a while back.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been named as the vice-captain. The Agarkar-led selection committee, along with BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia as the meeting convener, picked the squad in a meeting at the BCCI HQ in Mumbai, before announcing it in a formal press conference addressed by him and Shiv Sunder Das.
Gill has now become India’s fifth-youngest Test captain, joining the elite list of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, and Ravi Shastri.
Agarkar said they had monitored Gill for the last few months and had also taken feedback from the dressing room and felt he was the right choice with an eye on the future.
We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement. We're hopeful he's the guy. He's a terrific player, our best wishes to him. You don't pick captains for one tour or two tours. We've seen some progress over the last year or two with him. No doubt it's going to be as tough as it gets.
Gill has played 32 Tests for India as an opener and number three batter and scored 1893 runs at an average of 35.1, with five centuries and seven fifties against his name.
He has previously led the Indian team to a 4-1 T20I series win in Zimbabwe last year and has been vice-captain of the white-ball, including when the side won the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai. In first-class cricket, Gill has captained just five times – winning one match, losing two, and drawing two.
The 25-year-old Gill, who hails from Chandigarh, is currently leading Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 and has guided them to the playoffs.
In the Test squad, he will be joined by his Gujarat Titans' opening partner B Sai Sudharsan and Punjab Kings' Arshdeep Singh as debutants while Karun Nair returns to the team after seven years.
The 18-member squad is full of bits and pieces players -- all-rounders like Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Washington Sundar besides three wicket-keepers -- Pant, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel.
There are five out-and-out batters of which two are yet to play Test cricket. Also in the mix are five pacers -- Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep besides two medium-pace bowling allrounders -- Nitish Reddy and Shardul Thakur.
Surprising omissions are middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan, who was part of the previous Test series at home and Australia.
There's no place for veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, who Agarkar said is not fully fit to handle the rigours of playing Test cricket.
He's had a little bit of a setback over the past week, got some MRIs done. Wasn't going to be able to play five Tests. Don't think his workload is where he needs to be. Medical guys told us, 'he'll be ruled out'. We were hoping he'll play some part, but if he's not fit, we'd rather pick guys fit and available rather than waiting.
Agarkar also revealed that Bumrah won't play all five Tests in England, adding that the fast-bowling spearhead is more important to the side in his primary role instead of taking over the leadership mantle.
Don't think he'll be available for all five Tests. Whether it's four or three, we'll see based on how the series goes and his workload is. Even if he's fit for 3-4 Tests, he'll be an asset for us. Just happy he's part of the squad. He’s more important to us as a player. Once you're managing people, there's a lot that takes out of you. We've had a chat with him, he's okay with it. He knows where his body is. KL not really, he's captained a while back, he's a quality player, and hope he has a big series. With Booms, it was more about his workload management.
India’s all-important Test series against England runs from June 20 to August 4, with Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval being the venues. India are aiming to win a Test series in England for the first time since 2007.
India squad for England Tests:
Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul (wk), B Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav
