The Indian men’s cricket team has named star Shubman Gill as its full-time skipper for the Test format. The announcement was made soon after Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the format on May 7. Notably, speed star Jasprit Bumrah served as vice captain and even captained the side during the final Test series India played, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25, when Rohit was not present.
The five-match series against England will mark the beginning of Shubman Gill tenure as the red-ball captain.
Shubman Gill has already led the team in Twenty20 Internationals. Notably, the new World Test Championship cycle 2025–2027 will begin on June 20 in Leeds’ Headingley, where India’s tour of the United Kingdom would begin.
After losing to the Aussies Down Under, India missed their third consecutive appearance and will try to make one last appearance under Shubman Gill leadership. Notably, in the 2021 and 2023 World T.C. finals, India was captained by Virat Kohli and Rohit, but they lost to Australia and New Zealand, respectively.
Before he retired, Rohit, who had an outstanding record as India’s Test captain, was replaced by Shubman Gill. The 38-year-old captained the team in 24 games, winning 12 of them, losing nine, and drawing three. His 50.00 victory % as captain is the second-highest of any Indian captain with at least 20 Test matches.
However, Rohit’s final two series as captain were, to put it mildly, chaotic. India suffered their first home defeat in 12 years, losing 3-0, in the series against New Zealand. India thereafter dropped out of the WTC final position after losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1. Due to his dismal record, the Indian captain dropped Rohit for the fifth and final Test match in Sydney, where Bumrah served as the stand-in captain. Rohit played three matches in the series and scored just 31 runs from six innings.
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