'Because of his injury record he might not be able to last whole series': Former England all-rounder snubs Jasprit Bumrah to name India's next Test captain

'Because of his injury record he might not be able to last whole series': Former England all-rounder snubs Jasprit Bumrah to name India's next Test captain
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates a wicket; Moeen Ali with coaches during England's training session.

Story Highlights:

Shubman Gill captained India in five-T20I series against Zimbabwe last year.

Moeen Ali says injury concerns behind not making Jasprit Bumrah Test captain.

Moeen has lauded Gill for the way he has captained Gujarat Titans.

Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali has backed Shubman Gill to be Rohit Sharma's successor as India's Test captain. Moeen feels Jasprit Bumrah is the best candidate for the job but injury concerns will lead to Gill taking up the leadership role. He lauded Gill for the way he has led Gujarat Titans (GT) so far in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

"I think it will be Shubman Gill. Ideally they (BCCI) would want Jasprit Bumrah to captain because he is a very good captain, a good leader who has done it before. But because of his injury record he might not be able to last the whole series, I think they'll give it (captaincy) to somebody who's done decently so far in Test cricket. Gill leads Gujarat Titans in IPL, so they've still got a very, very good captain, inexperienced yes but a good captain and good brain, but it'll be a challenge (in England conditions)," Moeen told Sky Sports.

 

 

Gill's numbers on England soil

Gill does not have a good average on England soil. Including the England tour and the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final, Gill has scored 88 runs from six innings at an average of 14.66. 

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Gill as captain

Gill has captained India on the international stage. Just after India's ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in Barbados, Gill led a young side on the Zimbabwe tour. Under his leadership, India won the series 4-1.

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The ongoing IPL season is Gill's second as captain. He was named skipper of the Gujarat-based franchise after IPL 2022-winning captain Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians (MI). In his first season as captain, GT missed out on the playoffs spot. A couple of abandoned games affected them as well. 

However, before the IPL 2025 was suspended for a week due to escalation on India-Pakistan border, GT were at the top of the table with eight wins from 11 games. As IPL 2025 resumes later this week, GT will take on Delhi Capitals (DC) on May 18.

Gill in fine form 

Gill has been in good form with the bat as well. He is in the contention for the orange cap alongside teammates Sai Sudharsan (509 runs) and Jos Buttler (500 runs). The opener has scored 508 runs from 11 innings at an average of 50.80, including five half-centuries.