England tour: Shubman Gill, not quite automatic choice as new Test captain ?

The suspense around the choice of India’s new Test captain — and the squad for the five-Test series against England — is expected to end on Saturday, 23 May). There are no prizes for guessing that Shubman Gill is in pole position to take over the hot seat vacated by Rohit Sharma, but there is also a school of thought which feels there is a need to look beyond the graceful batter.

The candidature of Rishabh Pant, despite a nightmarish IPL season with the bat, has come up as a default choice — with Jasprit Bumrah reportedly not in the race because of a conscious decision to not play all five Tests in England. India will be under pressure in trying to put its best foot forward with a new-look team in what would be the first series of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Why is it that the captain’s mantle for Gill should not be the open-and-shut case that it has been made out to be? The 25-year-old, looking poised in his leadership role for Gujarat Titans this season, has been touted as the next big thing in India's Test batting line-up and more importantly, has the buy-in from head coach Gautam Gambhir. The all powerful coach has already had a meeting with Gill at his New Delhi residence and wants to plan long-term for all formats.

No problems there, but the argument is that while Gill is a proven authoritative performer in white-ball cricket, he has not exactly set the house on fire with his Test appearances abroad. While he was simply brilliant as vice-captain to Rohit Sharma during their successful campaign in the last ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai, he was dropped from the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne to accommodate Sharma in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

A little number-crunching, in fact, shows that records tilt the scales somewhat in Pant's favour. In 32 Tests so far, Gill has aggregated 1,893 runs at an average of 35.05 on the back of seven half-centuries and five centuries. However, all of his centuries have come on home soil, while his average in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) drops to under 17. Pant, on the other hand, has touched the three-figure mark in South Africa, Australia and England multiple times at an average of 42.11, thanks to his 15 half-centuries and six centuries in 43 Tests, having debuted in England in 2018.

Pant has shown the ability to look opponents in the eye, so essential at a time when India is trying to rebuild after the exit of Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravi Ashwin, with the departure of a few more seniors round the corner. His strike rate of 73.63 reflects a positive approach and unlike Gill, his place in the Test side has hardly ever been in doubt, even when he returned from a life-threatening car accident. Like most teammates, Pant too endured a tough tour of Australia but made sure critics caught a glimpse of his potential with a swashbuckling 61 off 33 in his final innings of the series in Sydney.

However, there is a perception problem about Pant — that he gives in to a sudden rush of blood — which has gone against him in recent times. The buzz from Delhi’s cricketing circles also fuels talk of an uneasy relationship with Gambhir since their Delhi days, history which no one will vouch for.

Gill's off-and-on performance in Tests, in fact, raised calls for him to go back to the Ranji Trophy grind in early 2024 before a century in Vizag against England in February silenced the chatter. “In Test cricket, my performance has not matched my expectations so far. But we are going to play 10 Test matches this season and when I look back after those 10 Tests, hopefully, my expectations will be matched,” he told PTI.

He ended up playing eight of those 10 games, aggregating 401 runs at an average of almost 34 with a solitary century to his name despite batting in the key no. 3 position. There is now talk of whether Gill or K.L. Rahul could be the right candidate for Kohli’s spot at no. 4: a slot mostly occupied only by Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli for the better part of the last 35 years. A tall order this, added to the pressures of captaincy if it comes.

“I love watching him play. When you're watching him bat and bat well, he looks as good as anyone in world cricket. But the numbers don’t really stack up, do they, away from home?” former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said on The ICC Review in December 2024.

It’s time for Gill to prove everyone wrong — should he eventually get the nod as captain, or will there be a twist in the tale?

England vs India Test schedule

First Test: Friday 20 June-Tuesday 24 June, Headingley

Second Test: Wednesday 2 July-Sunday 6 July, Edgbaston

Third Test: Thursday 10 July-Monday 14 July, Lord’s

Fourth Test: Wednesday 23 July-Sunday 27 July, Emirates Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday 31 July-Monday 4 August, The Kia Oval