Shubman Gill opens up on Rohit-Kohli's Test captaincy ahead of England series

India Gazette

6 hours ago

London [UK], June 16 (ANI): Ahead of the five-match Test series against England, India's newly appointed Test skipper Shubman Gill shared his thoughts on stalwart batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's captaincy following their retirement from the longest format of the game.
On May 7, Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket after a career spanning 67 Tests and 11 years, ahead of the England tour, kickstarting India's ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle from June 20 onwards.
On May 12, the world stood in silence after Kohli announced his decision to retire from Tests more than a month before the highly anticipated five-match Test series against the Three Lions.
Speaking at an interview on Sky Sports Cricket about Rohit's Test captaincy, Gill said, 'Rohit (Sharma) bhai is also very aggressive in terms of his tactics. Tactically, he's quite an aggressive captain. He is someone who is very clear with his communication prior to the matches, during the series, and even after the series, about what he wants from the players. The kind of environment I think Rohit bhai keeps. Like, even if Rohit bhai is swearing at you, you would not take it to your heart. That's just kind of his personality. And I think that's a great trait to have. He's firm, but even if he's being hard on you, you know that it's not coming from his heart.'
On May 12, the world stood in silence after Kohli announced his decision to retire from Tests more than a month before the highly anticipated five-match Test series against the Three Lions.
Further speaking on Kohli's Test captaincy, Gill said, 'When I played under Virat bhai (Kohli), I think his proactiveness in the test matches with the field or with the ideas or with his thinking was something that I liked and that I picked up. He was very proactive with his thinking. If he thinks that, okay, this plan is not working, he would immediately have another plan, communicate to the bowler what he wants from them. And it can seem like he is not aggressive,' the right-hand batter added.
India tour of England will take place from June to August 2025, with matches to be played at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord's (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).
A new era beckons for India in the Test format as the modern-day giants gear up for their first assignment without the prized batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Shubman Gill, India's youngest Test captain, has taken the baton from Rohit to guide the nation to success and challenge for the World Test Championship mace.
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)