Shubman Gill is a long-term investment!

In the absence of Test veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma India will begin their new WTC cycle under the leadership of young toporder batter Shubman Gill Wicketkeeperbatter Rishabh Pant 27 will be Gillrsquos deputy for the fiveTest series against England which begins with the Leeds Test on June 20Gill 25 who has 32 Tests under his belt becomes Indiarsquos fifthyoungest skipper in the longest format after Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi 21 Sachin Tendulkar 23 Kapil Dev 24 and Ravi Shastri 25 National chief selector Ajit Agarkar who addressed the media after the selection committee meeting at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Saturday also hinted that Gill is being seen as Indiarsquos longterm captain in TestsRishabh PantldquoObviously you discuss every option thatrsquos there Over the last year or so we have looked at Shubman at various times even when we played England last year You take a lot of feedback from the dressing room as wellrdquo Agarkar said in response to a query by Sunday midday on whether the committee discussed other captaincy optionsHowever Agarkar admitted that itrsquos a highpressure job considering Gillrsquos age as he has experience of three Tests in English conditions 88 runs at an average of 1466ldquoObviously hersquos Gill very young Wersquove seen the improvement I know itrsquos T20 cricket for GT Gujarat Titans but we take feedback from a lot of people and wersquore hopeful that hersquos the guy who can itrsquos obviously going to be like it always is a highpressure job But wersquore hopeful wersquove picked the right guy Hersquos a terrific player and our best wishes are with him We want to invest in something thatrsquos going to help us going forwardrdquo said AgarkarBumrah may miss few TestsPacer Jasprit Bumrah who has previously led the country in three Tests was the other strong contender for the role but was ruled out due to workload management Agarkar also revealed that Bumrah wonrsquot be available for all five Tests in EnglandChief selector Ajit Agarkar addresses the media at the BCCI headquarters on Saturday PicAtul KambleldquoI donrsquot think hersquos available for all five Tests Thatrsquos what the physios and the doctors have told us Whether itrsquos four or three Tests wersquoll see how the series goes and how his body can take the workload Needless to say how important he is Whether he is fit for three or four Tests he is going to win us a few Test matches Wersquore just glad hersquos fit again after the setback in Australia Hersquos back playing I know itrsquos T20 cricket at the moment but wersquove seen what hersquos doing in the IPL Wersquore just happy he is part of the squadrdquo Agarkar explained Bumrah who played a key role in taking Mumbai Indians to the Playoffs has claimed 16 scalps from nine games in the ongoing IPLPant who has represented India in 43 Tests has been named Gillrsquos deputy When asked why Pant was chosen as vicecaptain Agarkar said ldquoPant is one of our better batters over the last couple of years He will help Gill with all his experience At the moment these two Gill and Pant are the guys we feel will take the team forwardrdquoAgarkar also revealed that Kohli who has been Indiarsquos No 4 batter for a long time approached him last month before announcing his Test retirement ldquoItrsquos always difficult One way of looking at it is that itrsquos an opportunity for someone else They Kohli and Rohit have left a legacy behind Irsquove had conversations with both over the last couple of months Virat reached out in early April and said he wants to quitrdquo Agarkar said In Kohlirsquos absence newcomers like B Sai Sudharsan KL Rahul or Karun Nair who is making a national comeback after eight years may bat at the crucial No 4 positionShreyas Sarfaraz not pickedMumbairsquos Sarfaraz Khan who was part of Indiarsquos Test squads in the last two series mdash against New Zealand at home and Australia away mdash failed to impress the selectors Another Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer who scored 480 runs in five Ranji Trophy games last season 202425 including two centuries also missed out on the England tour However pacebowling allrounder Shardul Thakur was rewarded for his performance in the same 202425 Ranji season where he scored 505 runs and claimed 35 wickets in nine gamesIndiarsquos squadShubman Gill captain Rishabh Pant vc amp wk Yashasvi Jaiswal KL Rahul Sai Sudharsan Abhimanyu Easwaran Karun Nair Nitish Reddy Ravindra Jadeja Dhruv Jurel wk Washington Sundar Shardul Thakur Jasprit Bumrah Mohammed Siraj Prasidh Krishna Akash Deep Arshdeep Singh Kuldeep YadavatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params