For most of the last decade, the Indian Test team was about Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami. They were the pillars that the team was built around and the stars the youngsters looked up to. But as the team for India’s tour of England was named on Saturday, they were all missing.
The transition, as they say, is well and truly upon us. A new era is beginning and it is being spearheaded by the 25-year-old Shubman Gill who was named as India’s new Test captain. The selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar said his committee was “unanimous” that Gill, who has played just 32 Tests, was the right man for the job.
Gill will become the fourth youngest Indian Test captain, behind Tiger Pataudi (21 yrs), Sachin Tendulkar (23 yrs) and Kapil Dev (24 yrs).
It had been building up for a while but the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have hastened the need for change and this is a leap of faith that the selectors had to take. It is also a decision that could have major repercussions on India’s Test future.
“You don’t pick captains for one or two tours,” Agarkar said after chairing a selection meet at the BCCI headquarters here. “We want to invest in something that’s going to help us going forward. We’ve seen some progress over the last year or two with him. There’s no doubt that it is going to be as tough as it gets, in a five-match series in England. Maybe he will have to learn on the job a little bit.”
Bumrah was Rohit’s deputy in Australia and led the team to a win in the Perth Test. But as HT reported in April, the selectors were averse to the idea of the pacer becoming a long-term captain once it became known that his body would not take the workload of too many successive Tests.
“Once he was not going to be available for all the Test matches, I think he is more important to us as a player,” Agarkar said. “We want him fit. I think there is always that extra burden as a leader, managing 15–16 other people. There’s a lot that it takes out of you. We would rather have him bowling well rather than putting that extra burden on him.”
The calls for change had begun when India lost the series to New Zealand at home late in 2024. It was their first defeat at home in 12 years. The campaign then started to gather even more steam when most of the senior batters struggled in Australia as India crashed to another series defeat. The point most experts made was a simple one: could youngsters have done any worse?
After the losses, the selectors made up their mind to pick a young captain for the new World Test Championship cycle – beginning with the England Tests – and their plans remained unchanged despite India’s triumph in the ODI Champions Trophy under Rohit Sharma.
In the past two months, the selectors had conversations with Rohit and Kohli on their future. Both retired a fortnight back, within days of each other. And just like that the combined experience of 190 matches went out of the line-up. It also means that India now has a team that features players who have grown up in the T20 era.
Gill’s challenge
Gill is yet to hit the high notes in Test cricket (he averages just 35), but the selectors were willing to give him their vote of confidence because of not just his potential but also because of his stable mindset.
Still, Gill will need to step up as batter and hope to inspire the other youngsters in the batting group — Yashasvi Jaiswal is 23, Sai Sudharsan is 23 too, Rishabh Pant has been around for a bit but he’s 27. It’s been a while since India have sported such a youthful look in the red-ball game.
“Everyone is going to be tested in England, like it was in Australia,” said Agarkar. “We are confident he has got the goods. It’s a massive transition with Rohit and Kohli not being around. It’s a new cycle, experience can only help. It is going to be tough. [But] as far as his batting is concerned, there’s no real issue.”
But the youngsters sometimes like to play a different game. Pant, who has been named vice-captain, certainly does. It will be interesting to see whether Gill, as skipper, tries to rein them in or gives them the freedom to be themselves.
Early results may decide how assertive he will be as skipper and for that he will also need Bumrah at his very best.
India’s pace battery will be working with limited ammunition in England. In addition to Bumrah’s limited availability – he has been advised to play not more than four of the five Tests – Shami had to be left out after being ruled not ready for the rigours of Test cricket by the medical team.
So, the selectors have provided six pace options that include Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Shardul Thakur and the young swing bowler Arshdeep Singh. The returning bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur will act as cover for the inexperienced Nitish Reddy, whose bowling is not as sharp.
But most of all, this tour will be about Gill and youth. Beginnings can be difficult, but at the end of the day it will be the results that will count.