India will tour England for a five-match Test series next month. However, with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from the format in addition to a void in the experience, there are also questions about who will take on the captaincy from Rohit. Shubman Gill is the name that is reported to be taking over the role, and former Head Coach Ravi Shastri said Shubman does look “very good.”
“He’ll have played cricket, which is four-over cricket. Now will come the test of bowling 10 overs, 15 overs. And the last thing you want is some pressure on his mind being captain as well,” Ravi Shastri said on the ICC review. “You groom somebody, and I would say Shubman’s looked very good. Give him the opportunity. He’s 25, 26 years of age, even give him time.”
“There’s Rishabh as well. I think these two are the obvious ones I’m looking at because of their age, and they have a decade ahead of them. So, let them learn,” Shastri added. Both Pant and Gill have been captaining their respective Indian Premier League franchises for a while. “They’ve got experience as captains, now, captaining their franchise, and that makes a difference,” Shastri noted. “The little I’ve seen of Shubman looks very interesting. Composed, calm, he has all the qualities.”
However, as a skipper showed promising signs in Australia. Shastri, while acknowledging that Bumrah might have been the obvious choice, would also caution about Bumrah returning from long-term injury. “See for me, Jasprit would have been the obvious choice after Australia,” Shastri said. “But I don’t want Jasprit to be made captain and then you lose him as a bowler. I think he (Bumrah) has to take his body one game at a time. He’s coming back now after a serious injury,” Shastri noted.
