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The sudden Test retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli left a big void in the Indian team, leading to them entering a transitional period. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chose Shubman Gill as Rohit's successor despite the former having never captained the Indian team in the longest format.
Gill will be captaining the Indian team against England
The 25-year-old Gill has an enormous responsibility on his shoulders as he will be leading the Men in Blue in the upcoming five-match Test assignment against England which is set to commence from June 20. The series will be quite important for both the teams as it will also kick-off the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
With the series betweem India and England on the horizon, former India cricketer and the father of Yuvraj Singh, Yograj Singh criticized both Rohit and Virat for announcing untimely Test retirements which led to the captaincy baton being 'thrown' to Gill.
"Virat and Rohit shouldn’t have retired from Tests. I told Rohit to get up at 5 AM and run for 20 km to keep himself fit. Virat and Rohit can still play for another 5 years in Test cricket. They should have played," Yograj told Inside Sport.
"They should be there to see that the baton is passed to the youngsters. The baton has not been passed, it has been thrown to Gill," he added.
Yograj further stated that his son Yuvraj also called time on his career despite having a lot of cricket left in him. He further added that if Yuvraj would have followed his advice, then he would have gone on to captain the Men in Blue.
"Even when Yuvraj was retiring I promised him that I will help him become India captain and that we will throw everybody out but he quit," Yograj stated.
The retirements of Rohit and Virat lead to the Indian team entering a new era in Test cricket and thus, the selectors ended up choosing several inexperienced youngsters for the highly important England tour. Additionally, they also called back veteran batter Karun Nair, who had been absent from the side's Test set-up for the past eight years.
The series will especially be important for the young guns, who will be looking to impress the selectors through their performances and cemenet their place in India's playing XI in Test cricket.
India squad for England Tests: 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.
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