Kumar Bahukhandi
Shubman Gill – Photo: ANI
The selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar has appointed Shubman Gill as the new Test captain. With a coach like Gambhir, Gill can achieve the same success as he got in the IPL with Ashish Nehra.
The Indian team has been announced for the five-match Test series against England. The selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar has made Shubman Gill the new Test captain. 25-year-old Shubman will be India’s 37th Test captain. At the same time, Rishabh Pant has been made the vice-captain in Tests. There was a lot of discussion about Gill. Gill’s name was being discussed since the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Now on Saturday, chief selector Agarkar announced it. The England tour will also mark the start of the Indian team’s new Test Championship cycle (2025-27).
Gill made his Test debut in Australia
Gill made his Test debut in 2020-21 on the Australia tour. He played a brilliant innings of 91 runs in the Test at the Gabba. By winning this match, Ajinkya Rahane’s Team India took an unassailable 2-1 lead over Australia. Since then, Gill has scored 1893 runs in 32 Tests at an average of 35.03. This includes five centuries and seven half-centuries. During this, he has hit 210 fours and 31 sixes. However, Gill’s record outside India has not been anything special. Especially in England, Gill has not been able to do anything special. He has also played two World Test Championship finals there. In three matches in England, he has scored 88 runs at an average of less than 15. In Australia, Gill has represented India in six Tests and scored 352 runs at an average of 35.20. This includes two half-centuries.
Will Gill be able to manage the senior players?
Announcing the captaincy, Agarkar said, ‘Gill is very young and we have seen improvement in him. This is a very stressful responsibility, but we are optimistic.’ The 3-0 defeat in the home series against New Zealand last year and then the 3-1 defeat on the Australia tour forced Rohit Sharma to retire from Tests. In such a situation, Shubman will have to proceed very carefully. The biggest challenge before Gill will be to manage the senior players. The team has senior players like Bumrah, Shardul, Jadeja, Kuldeep, KL Rahul. Bringing them together so that there is no rift in the team will be the biggest responsibility. This happened earlier in 2008-09 when Dhoni was given the command of an experienced Test team. Kohli did not face any problem in 2014, because almost everyone in that team was new.
