Shubman Gill named new Test captain of India; Rishabh Pant vice-captain starting from England tour
Shubman Gill has been named the new Test captain for the Indian cricket team and will succeed Rohit Sharma, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Saturday. This officially begins the new era for the Indian red-ball set-up after the shock retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli.
Earlier, both stalwarts — Rohit and Kohli — pulled the plug from their glittering Test careers, announcing their retirement from this format within a span of one week.
FOLLOW: India Test Squad Announcement For England Tour Highlights
Rishabh Pant has been named Gill’s deputy starting from India’s tour of England.
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Earlier, it was reported The Indian Express that Gill was the front-runner to captain the men’s Test team after incumbent Rohit announced his retirement. The senior selection committee, headed former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar, is of the opinion that 25-year-old Gill is the ideal candidate to take over as Test captain. However, the selectors were to discuss the same with the BCCI before making a formal announcement. This paper had earlier reported how India’s fast bowling figurehead and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to be given a leadership role on the Test tour to England starting June-end.
The star fast bowler had captained India to its only Test match win during the Australia tour at the turn of the year, apart from leading in two other Tests. But since Bumrah is unlikely to feature in all the five Tests in England, as part of his workload management, the selectors had to look at another option.
India’s Test series against England is scheduled to kick off from June 20 with the fifth and final Test starting July 31.
India tour of England, Full schedule
1st Test, 20–24 June 2025 – Headingley, Leeds
2nd Test, 2–6 July 2025 – Edgbaston, Birmingham
3rd Test, 10–14 July 2025 – Lord’s, London
4th Test, 23–27 July 2025 – Old Trafford, Manchester
5th Test, 31 July – 4 August 2025 – The Oval, London
India full squad for England tour
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
