The much-anticipated India squad for the Test tour to England was announced by Ajit Agarkar on the afternoon of May 24, where Shubman Gill was announced as the new captain of the team.
While Gill was handed over the responsibility as the captain of the side, the wicketkeeper batter, Rishabh Pant, was the second player named in the presser who will be the deputy to Gill in the five Tests.
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The other names in the reckoning over the last few weeks, according to multiple reports, were Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul — who have formerly led India in the format.
With Pant being named as the deputy, Agarkar was asked the reasoning behind looking past the two experienced players. See what he had to say.
India's next Test captain: Why was Shubman Gill chosen over Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul
Following the squad announcement, on being asked about the two ex-captains, Agarkar spoke about managing the workload of Bumrah after his recent back injury suffered in Australia.
Regarding Rahul, the chief selector disclosed that the batter is not much in contention for the role for the upcoming series.
READ MORE: India squad for England Test series 2025: Shubman Gill named captain as Mohammad Shami misses out
"More important to us is a player. Once you're managing people, there's a lot that takes out of you. We've had a chat with him, he's okay with it. He knows where his body's at," said the chief selector.
"KL not really, he's captained a while back, he's a quality player and I hope he has a big series. With Booms, it was more about his workload management," he added.
Agarkar added that the decision was made with the long-term future in mind and noted that Gill has also improved as a leader over the last 12 months.
Further, the chief selector believes the job is going to be tough nnd felt that Gill might have to learn on the job, in testing conditions in England.
"You don't pick captains for 1-2 tours, you want to invest in something going forward. We've seen some progress with Gill over the last year. It is going to be tough, but maybe he will have to learn on the job a bit. We are happy with what he has to offer and that is why we have picked him," Agarkar said.
India squad for England Test series 2025
Here is the 18-member India squad that will travel to England for the five-match Test series.
Gill will captain while Rishabh Pant will be the vice-captain on the tour.
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Sai Sudharsan
- Abhimanyu Easwaran
- KL Rahul
- Rishabh Pant (wk &vc)
- Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- Karun Nair
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Mohammed Siraj
- Arshdeep Singh
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Washington Sundar
- Prasidh Krishna
- Akash Deep
- Shardul Thakur