Ex-England star highlights Shubman Gill's 'inexperience', says 'good captain and good brain, but...'

Shubman Gill in action (BCCI Photo)

The most likely candidate to take over as India's next Test skipper is Shubman Gill, and his captaincy stint will start from the onset of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. India will be locking horns in a five-match series with England, which starts on June 20.

There has been plenty of conjecture about who would lead India ever since Rohit Sharma hung up his boots from the longest format last week. Gill emerges as the forerunner. Former England spinner Moeen Ali also feels this will be the case but he noted Gill's "inexperience" could be a massive challenge on English shores. Moeen also mentioned that the BCCI would have preferred Jasprit Bumrah as their new leader but his prolong battles with injury cast a dark shadow on any such ambitions.

Under Bumrah's captaincy the team secured a mammoth 295-run victory in the Perth Test in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Down Under, which was India's solitary win in the series. Bumrah led the show for India but excessive workload saw the pacer going down midway during the Sydney Test, which was the final match of the series - also captained by the bowler.

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“I think it will be Shubman Gill. Ideally, the BCCI would want Jasprit Bumrah to captain because he is a very good captain, a good leader who has done it before. But because of his injury record, he might not be able to last the whole series,” Moeen told Sky Sports. “I think they'll give the captaincy to somebody who's done decently so far in Test cricket. Gill leads Gujarat Titans in IPL, so they've still got a very, very good captain, inexperienced, yes, but a good captain and good brain, but it'll be a challenge in the English conditions,” he added.

Gill will be touring England for the second time but doesn't boast of big numbers in whites. He has played 32 Tests but averages only 35, which drops to 29 when he plays away from home. Gill's lone Test century away from home is against Bangladesh.

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Gill began his Test career as an opening batsman, however, as Cheteshwar Pujara waned, he was moved to No. 3. During the 2023 West Indies trip, when Rahul Dravid was the team's head coach, he himself volunteered for that role. After taking over as captain, there is no reason to think he will switch up his batting order unless he wants to use the renowned No. 4 spot that Virat Kohli's retirement has left open.

Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Dhruv Jurel are among the players that could be tasked to fill the space, aside from Shreyas Iyer, who was a member of India's Test team during their most recent tour of England.

Rishabh Pant has also been considered as a potential captain but his current form and unimpressive leadership with the Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025 are working against him from getting promoted.