Former India head coach Gary Kirsten opened up on newly appointed Test skipper Shubman Gill and his role as a captain for the five-Test match series against England. After the Test retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last month, India was left short on experience.
As Rohit announced his retirement from the longest format of the game, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have appointed Shubman Gill as his successor to lead India in whites.
Speaking on Shubman Gill's Test captaincy, Gary Kirsten told JioHotstar, "I think Shubman is going to be a great leader. He's a smart cricketer--he's got a good brain for the game and understands his game. He's very talented and a nice human being, which I think is really important. When you come into these leadership positions, you're going to be put under pressure, and your leadership will be tested. For any young leader."
The 25-year-old Gill became one of the youngest players to hold the position in recent years. Though he lacks captaincy experience in the red-ball format, he has led India in a five-match T20I assignment in Zimbabwe in 2024. Gill has also been captaining the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Gill has earlier served as Rohit's deputy in ODIs and T20Is. He was Rohit Sharma's deputy in India's victorious Champions Trophy campaign in the UAE in February 2025. Gill has played 32 Test matches and scored 1,893 runs, including five centuries.
The five-Test match between India and England will take place from June to August 2025, with matches to be played at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord's (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).
India squad for England Test series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
England have already announced their playing XI for the first Test of the five-match series against India, which will start on June 20 at Headingley.
For the opening Test, England has retained the majority of the XI they fielded against Zimbabwe during the one-off Test last month. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will open for England, followed by Ollie Pope at number three.
England Playing XI for the 1st 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.