Team India are scheduled to play a five-Test match series against England, where some notable stars likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma won't be seen featuring for India as the 38-year-old has officially announced retirement from the longest format of the game. Kohli has also reportedly told the Indian cricket board that he is done with Test cricket.
Since Rohit has announced retirement from Test cricket so the selectors will have to pick a new skipper for the upcoming red-ball series against England. Sources close to Sports Tak revealed that young batter Shubman Gill is currently leading the race for captaincy.
The source also revealed that Gill was supposed to meet the Indian head coach over lunch in New Delhi, but the meeting was postponed due to the suspension of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The reports further stated that there are a few members who are backing KL Rahul for the captaincy role, and the team for the England series will most likely to be announced on May 16 or 17.
Apart from the squad announcement, India head coach Gautam Gambhir will leave for England on June 6 for the preparation of the Test series.
Shubman Gill captaincy
Shubman Gill who is leading the race to captain India in Tests has never led in Test matches or ODIs, but has led the team in 5 T20Is all on a tour of Zimbabwe in 2024 when he was named captain of a side that missed several first-choice players following India's victory in the preceding T20 World Cup but it seems his leadership quality has impressed selectors and BCCI. Gill has played 32 Tests where he scored 1893 runs with a highest score of 128, including five centuries and seven half-centuries in 59 innings at an average of 35.05.
India vs England five-Test match series is scheduled to start from June 20 and this will be the first red-ball assignment for the Men in Blue after a forgettable outing in Australia during the five-Test match series of Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25.