I really don’t think Shubman Gill has realised the enormity of what it means to be the Test captain for India: Dinesh Karthik

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Dinesh Karthik, who was part of India’s tour of England in 2018, has stated that Shubman Gill doesn’t realise the enormity of becoming the Indian Test captain for now.

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Notably, the BCCI selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, named Gill the new Indian Test captain after the veteran duo Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from the longest format of the game last month.

As India is scheduled to tour England for the five-match Test series in the new World Test Championship cycle, Karthik reckoned that many top teams found it really hard to bat on the English surfaces. However, this time around, England's bowling attack is comparatively weak, which can turn out to be a big positive for India, according to Karthik.

“I really don’t think he (Shubman Gill) has realised the enormity of what it means to be the Test captain for India as of now. He is walking into the lion’s den,” Karthik told Sky Sports. 

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“Coming to England as a cricketing nation is not easy. There have been many a team with superstars who have come in and have found it really, really hard,” Karthik said. “Luckily, luckily for Shubman Gill, I think the England bowling attack is very vulnerable. That is the only positive I see,” he added.

“They are going to be put under pressure with the bat. When I say bat, I mean England’s batting will definitely put the Indian team under pressure. The bowling is an area that is still a work in progress for England, and that could very well play into India’s hands,” he observed.

Team India will start its campaign against England on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds.

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India’s squad for the England Test series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.

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