The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday announced India's squad for the five-match Test series against England. As announced in a press conference by chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar, Shubman Gill has been named as the new Test captain of the Indian team.
On naming Gill the next captain, Agarkar said that Gill has shown improvement and was considered for the leadership role. "We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement. We're hopeful he's the guy. He's a terrific player, our best wishes to him. You don't pick captains for one tour or two tours. We've seen some progress over the last year or two with him. No doubt it's going to be as tough as it gets," he said in the press conference.
Why Mohammed Shami has not been picked in the squad?
A major absentee in the squad is Mohammed Shami, who has been playing in all format of cricket now. Shami has not been picked in the India Test squad for the England series. Agarkar revealed that Shami has got a setback and has not built the workload that needs to be built for the Test series.
"He's had a little bit of a setback over the past week, got some MRIs done. Wasn't going to be able to play five Tests. Don't think his workload is where he needs to be. Medical guys told he'll be ruled out. We were hoping he'll play some part, but if he's not fit, we'd rather pick guys fit and available rather than waiting," Agarkar said.
India squad for England Test series:
Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
