“He doesn’t even fit in the playing XI” - Former Indian cricketers disagree with Shubman Gill becoming Test captain

On Saturday, May 24, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Shubman Gill as the new Indian Test captain for the England tour, scheduled to start on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds in the new WTC Cycle.

Advertisment

Notably, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirements from the longest format of the game most recently, and this prompted the BCCI selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, to select the new captain.

While there were the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant, the selection committee went ahead with top-order batter Shubman Gill, which didn’t go down well with former Indian batters Manoj Tiwary and Virender Sehwag.

“He was the second-best option. But how can someone who doesn't even fit in the Playing XI be made captain? So I feel the logic here was that they looked at who the second-best option was, and that was Gill, and that is how it happened,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.

Advertisment

Moreover, Sehwag agreed with Tiwary, but for him, Rishabh Pant was the second-best captaincy choice after Bumrah, instead of Gill. While Bumrah wasn’t given the role due to his fitness issues, Sehwag wanted to see Pant as the new Test captain.

“For a series, Bumrah is okay. But as a long-term option, you need to ask if India play 10 Tests in a year, will he be able to play all those matches? Or, how many matches can he play? That is a major factor in picking a captain. So that I feel was the right decision, because they felt they could not put that pressure and load on Bumrah. Tiwary said Gill is the second-best, but I feel that is Rishabh Pant, and Gill is the third-best,” Sehwag said in the same show.

“What Pant did for Test cricket, no other player has done. After Virat Kohli, if there is one player who has compelled fans into watching Test cricket, it's Pant. But because he had that accident, got injured and then came back, he did not have that much of an impact, and hence he was made the vice-captain, thinking that if he can bounce back to form, they can take that decision of making him the captain in the future. But there are very few bowlers who are made the captain. In my career, it was just Anil Kumble, who loved the format, was available and was a certainty in the XI,” Sehwag concluded.

Advertisment

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky247 India and download the Sky247 app to start betting today!