Gill gets nod as India Test skipper, England series awaits

Shubman Gill has been named India's new red-ball skipper and will lead the team on their upcoming five-Test tour of England starting on June 20.

The 25-year-old batter takes over from Rohit Sharma, who last led India against Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket this month, followed by batting great Virat Kohli doing the same.

India Test squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Druv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna , Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

Jasprit Bumrah had led India during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy - in the first Test in Perth and again in the final Test in Sydney, where Sharma dropped himself. 

However, the pacer wasn't chosen for the job considering his fitness issues and workload management to monitor his availability through the English summer.

Gill made his Test debut against Australia in December 2020 and has featured in 32 matches since, scoring 1893 runs at an average of 35.05.

He currently leads Gujarat Titans atop the Indian Premier League and is second on the runs list with 636. 

At 25 years and 258 days, Gill is the fifth-youngest cricketer to become India's Test captain.

Keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been named vice-captain for India's tour of England.