Gavaskar’s Reaction to India’s Test Squad and New Team Captain for England Tour

Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar expressed his satisfaction with the new Test squad announced for the England tour. He believes that the 18-member squad for the five-match test series is well selected.

Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced India’s test squad on Saturday, May 24. Many changes were made to the team; Shubman Gill was appointed as captain with Rishabh Pant as his deputy. Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh were handed their test debut calls.

Gavaskar’s Take on the New Leadership

The former cricketer feels that making Shubman Gill the new captain is a bold move. Notably, the 25-year-old does not have much experience with the role.

“It is a great team and it has been selected while keeping in mind that this is the beginning of a new World Test Championship cycle, so you would want these players to play for the next two or more years. This is also a bold move because Shubman Gill doesn’t have much experience as captain, but there are many other experienced players in the side like Jasprit Bumrah, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant, so it indeed is a very well-selected team,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak in an exclusive interview.

Gavaskar added that whoever gets appointed as captain has additional responsibilities.

“There is always pressure on the player who gets elected as India’s captain, as there is a big difference between being a member in the team and being the captain. Because when you are a team member, you generally just interact with players close to you, but when you become the captain, you should behave in a way that the other players in the team respect you, and a captain’s behaviour is more important than his performance,” Gavaskar stated.

‘He has experience as an opener…’

Gavaskar believes that Gill should bat at No. 3 and opposes the idea of dropping him to the fourth batting position.

“Gill should bat at No.3 followed by Karun Nair at No.4 and Sai Sudharsan at No.5. I don’t think there is any reason for Gill to drop to the fourth spot in the batting order as he already has experience as an opener and would prove to be effective while batting at the third spot if India end up losing wickets early,” Gavaskar added.

Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and Instagram