Why selectors picked Shubman Gill as the India Test cricket captain

Shubman Gill has been named as the skipper of the Indian cricket team for the upcoming Test tour of England with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) senior selection panel choosing him ahead of Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul for the top post.

The decision to make Gill captain comes as a surprise.

Jasprit Bumrah was the favourite to become skipper following the retirement of skipper Rohit Sharma. But the right-arm pace bowler reportedly expressed unwillingness to play all five Tests.

That left the toss-up between Gill, Pant and Rahul.

One would have expected Rahul to lead because of his experience in Test cricket or even Pant because he has played many more match-winning innings.

However, it seems that Gill's leadership for Gujarat Titans, which is currently leading the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table, convinced the selectors that he is the best fit for the leadership role.

Gill's performance in Test cricket has not been exceptional. He averages 35.05 with 1,893 runs in 32 Test matches.

But it is his performance away from home that is most concerning. It does not evoke any confidence. He averages 29.5 in 13 Tests with one century overseas and that was against Bangladesh.

In England he averages only 14.66 in three Tests with a highest of 28.

But it seems the selection panel, led by Ajit Agarkar, were looking for a youngster for the long run. Hence they picked him as the skipper.

Among other surprises is the exclusion of batsman Shreyas Iyer who did well in domestic cricket last season. But his problem against moving ball and short ball may have played a role in him not getting picked.

Sarfaraz Khan has been dropped without getting a single Test in Australia. Karun Nair has been brought to replace him probably because of the fact that he has played County cricket and can probably handle the moving ball better than Sarfaraz. Sai Sudharsan has been rewarded for his recent good performances across formats. He did well for India A in Australia and then performed in IPL too.

Arshdeep Singh, probably because he is young and a left-armer, has been picked ahead of Mohammed Shami who had been grappling with fitness recently and couldn't make an impact in IPL on comeback. Arshdeep can move the ball but he is short of multi-day format experience.

Shardul Thakur has made a comeback to the India Test squad. Thakur impressed on India's last tour of England.

Also, Prasidh Krishna has been picked ahead of Harshit Rana.

"The Test series will commence on June 20 in Leeds before the action moves to Birmingham for the second Test on July 2. The Lord’s Cricket Ground will host the third Test, beginning on July 10, 2025. Old Trafford (July 23) and Kennington Oval (July 31) will host the fourth and fifth Tests of the series respectively," said a statement from BCCI.

India’s squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

Tags : Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ajit Agarkar, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh