Why Shubman Gill was chosen as Jaspreet Bumrah, KL Rahul as India Test captain? BCCI says, “Additional burden …”

Shubman Gill is officially the new Indian cricket team Test captain. At a press conference in Mumbai on Saturday, BCCI chief selector Ajit Aggarkar announced the decision of India’s squad for the five -test series against England, which begins on June 20. Shubman Gill does not have a prior experience of leading the Test side, while the squad includes two players – Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul – have been side by side. The BCCI chief selector Ajit Agkar was clear in his idea process when the pair and their leader were asked about the possibility.

“Bumrah because he has led us in Australia, but one, he is not available for all the test matches. I think we wanted him more as a player. It is always an additional burden when you are managing 15–16 people. It takes a lot for you. We take him as a bowler. Hopefully he is a big series.

“Not actually with KL, originally he captained some time ago, but I was not there at that time. We hope he has a big chain. But, about Bumrah, it is important to fit him as a bowler.”

Agarkar insisted that a captain is not selected for one or two series and long -term plan should be taken into consideration when making such calls.

“You don’t choose a captain for one or two chains, you have to plan for a long period. We hope that he [Shubman Gill] Will learn over time, “Ajit Agarkar said at a press conference.

At the age of 25, Gill has become one of the youngest players to hold office in recent years. Although he lacks captaincy experience in the Red-Ball format, he has led India to the five-match T20 eye assignment in Zimbabwe in 2024. Gill is also captaining Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.

Gill is also serving as the vice-captains in Odis and T20I. He was the deputy of Rohit Sharma in India’s winning Champions Trophy campaign in UAE in February 2025. In Test cricket, Gill has played 32 matches and scored 1,893 runs with five centuries.

India’s test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Ishwar, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Rabindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurlel, Washington Mundna, Shardul Thakur Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.