'Ideal choice would have been Jasprit Bumrah...': India great gives brutal remark on Shubman Gill becoming new Test captain

Head of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar on Saturday announced the 18-member India squad that will be touring England for a five-match Test assignment which is set to commence from June 20. Many changes were made to the team with the most significant one being Shubman Gill getting selected as the new Test skipper.

Shubman Gill has never captained India in Tests before

The 25-year-old, who has never captained the Indian team in the longest format before, will now be leading the team in the much-important Test series against England which will also mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Following Gill's appointment as the new skipper, legendary India cricketer Anil Kumble gave a concerning take on the batter and highlighted his batting record in overseas conditions. In 13 overseas Tests, Gill has scored just 649 runs at an average of 29.50 with his only century coming against Bangladesh. Kumble also believes that Jasprit Bumrah should have been Rohit Sharma's ideal successor.

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"It's going to be a massive challenge. Initially, I thought Jasprit Bumrah would have been the automatic choice, but they must have a reason there. They would have probably spoken to him, and maybe Jasprit is now looking at taking a break between matches. He felt that it was better not to be the captain. But the ideal choice would have been Jasprit. Now that the selectors have taken a call on Shubman, they'll have to stick with him for a while. Because he needs that kind of leeway as well. First, he has to establish as a batter because even in Australia, he didn't play all matches," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo.

Previously, Gill has only captained the Indian team in the shortest format during the five-match series against Zimbabwe in 2024. Elsewhere, he has been captaining the Gujarat Titans in IPL for two seasons now, and though they finished at a disappointing eighth place last season, they are the current table-toppers in the ongoing one. Earlier this year, he also lead his state team of Punjab in the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka.

However, Kumble feels that captaining the Indian team in the Test format will bring a different level of pressure on the shoulders of the 25-year-old especially following the retirements of senior players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.

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"As a captain, he has certainly shown signs. Of course, it's a very different format. He has a calm head. He's done all the right things for GT in the last couple of seasons as a captain. So as a player, it hasn't really affected him at least in the white-ball formats. And to expect that to happen in Test matches as well – there won't be any issues with his batting just because he is captain… it's going to be a different team without the big boys Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and Ashwin as well. The Indian team is going to look very different," Kumble added.

India squad for England series: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.