I want to play Test cricket for a very long time: India captain Shubman Gill

In a historic move on Saturday, May 24, the All India Men's Senior Selection Committee announced that star batter Shubman Gill will be leading the Indian team in Test cricket going forward. Gill's first assignment would be a highly-staked five-match tour to England, which will not only mark a new beginning for the country in red-ball, but will also see the commencement of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Knowing the gravitas on what playing the sport for India is, and even bigger of a task to be playing Tests for a prolonged period. Now, with him being the successor to Rohit Sharma, who had a short but fairly successful stint as Test captain, Gill has expressed his honour to be getting the opportunity to don the captain's blazer for the Indian team.

"As a young kid, when anyone starts playing cricket, they want to play for India. Not just cricket for India, but Test cricket for India for a very long time. To be able to get this opportunity is a great honour, and it is a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to this exciting opportunity, and I think the upcoming series in England is going to be a very exciting one. I believe in leading by example, not just by performance, but off-the-field by discipline and hard work," Gill told BCCI.

The Punjab-born, who is captaining Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2025, has been having a tremendous run, both individually and as a leader. He is among the top run-getters in the tournament, while the Titans are on top of the Points Table, having already qualified for the Playoffs. Following the conclusion of the mega tournament, Gill will be shifting his focus to lead the 18-member India squad that will be touring to the United Kingdom from mid-June to early August.

"As a captain, a leader should be able to know when to step in, but also when to give space to the players. Because everyone has kind of had a different life and grown up differently. Everyone has a different personality. So a good leader should always be able to know what makes his players to be able to have the best performance or the best outcome. That is always exciting to be able to have those conversations with the players, to be able to know them on a deeper level than just cricket of the things that make the players be better," Gill said on his thoughts about leadership.

"One of the things that I learnt was, if I'm a batsman, I'm batting out there. I want to be able to make decisions as a batter and not as a captain. If I start thinking about other things, it just puts more pressure on me, which is not required, you know, because when you're betting out there, you want to be able to take those risks. You want to be able to make decisions that you would make when you are playing just as a batsman, because that gives you the freedom. That is one of the things that I learnt, that whenever I'm betting out there, I just want to be able to make decisions as a batsman and not really want to think that, "Oh, I'm the captain," he further adds. 

India tour of England, 2025: Full Schedule

Squad

Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper and vice captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav