Shubman Gill is embarking on a new and significant phase of his cricketing career as he will be tasked with a big responsibility to lead India pack in the five-match Test series against England which is set to kick off from June 20. Shubman Gill was appointed India's Test captain for their challenging tour of England. Despite some criticism surrounding his selection for this crucial role, the young cricketer has received the backing of legendary former captain Kapil Dev, who believes Gill is prepared for the responsibilities of captaincy.
Kapil Dev on Shubman Gill's captaincy role
Gill's appointment as Test captain marks a transition period for the Indian team in the new World Test Championship cycle, especially with the absence of experienced stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. However, the decision has been met with some skepticism from fans and cricket pundits, primarily due to Gill's relatively modest batting average in Test cricket, leading to questions about his captaincy potential. Earlier in June, Shubman Gill was officially named the Test captain, making him the fifth youngest Indian cricketer to lead the national side in the longest format of the game. In the selection process, he was preferred over other experienced players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant.
Meanwhile, during an exclusive interview with Sports Tak, legendary Kapil Dev said that he is not worried about Shubman Gill's captaincy role in the upcoming series. He also said that the new-look Team India is good enough to win in England.
"He has captained team in IPL. Yes I know Test is different but I am not too much bothered about that. I feel this team is good enough to win in England," Kapil Dev told Sports Tak.
Former India captain was also asked about the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in England tour, who recently announced their retirements from the longest format of the game.
"There’s no Sachin Tendulkar, there’s no Sunil Gawaskar, there is no Anil Kumble there is no MS Dhoni and no Yuvraj Singh. Those who are not there we will miss them all our life but we need to look at next generation and feel proud of them. I think Rohit did his job, Virat wonderfully made us so much proud, lets see next player comes out bigger than that, thats more important," Kapil Dev added.
Meanwhile, England have already announced their pace-heavy playing XI for the series opener at Leeds. On the other hand Harshit Rana has been added to India's Test squad for England tour.
England's Playing XI for first Test against India:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India's squad for England tour:
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.