Generational change! Shubman Gill is Indian cricket team's new Test captain

MUMBAI: Shubman Gill was named the new Indian cricket team test captain in one major announcement made by BCCI on Saturday. Rishabh Pant will be the vice-captain. With the announcement of the Indian team for the tour of England next month, Gill has been confirmed as the successor of Rohit Sharma.

The team includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Kuldeep Yadav.

Jasprit Bumrah, the interim captain in Rohit's absence during the Australian tour, was initially considered for the spot. However, BCCI rooted for Gill after Bumrah expressed his displeasure to helm affairs in the team.

It was reported that Bumrah had informed the selectors that he would not be able to play more than three matches in the five-Test series. Despite being naïve in the captaincy role, Gill has been excellent with his form in all formats of the game. Moreover, he harbours good rapport with all players in the squad. This proved as a vital factor in considering him for the captain spot.

Coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar had discussions with Gill in this regard. Malayali player Karun Nair has also been included in the team, for the first time since 2017. Karun had performed well in all domestic cricket tournaments including the Ranji Trophy. Karun had scored 863 runs in 10 Ranji matches, including four centuries.

Tamil Nadu batsman Sai Sudarshan, currently running the show in IPL, has also been included in the team. Sai and Karun are in the India A team that will be playing four days in England before the Test tour. Pacer Mohammed Shami was not included in the team. The decision was taken considering Shami’s difficulty in playing all five Tests.