Shubman Gill meets Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar amidst reports of being named India Test captain

In a big breaking news development, star batter Shubman Gill reportedly had a meeting with Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar where the trio had a long discussion regarding roadmap for Test cricket's future. Earlier this week, it was learnt that Gill is the frontrunner to replace Rohit Sharma as the new India captain in the longer format of the game. On 7 May, 2025, the cricketing fraternity received a shocking news that Rohit Sharma has announced his sudden retirement from Test cricket, however, he will continue playing the 50-overs format of the game. This also meant that the national selectors will have to announce a brand new India captain ahead of the India vs England five-match Test series. 

With serious concerns over speedster Jasprit Bumrah's worload management, Shubman Gill was reportedly looking as the perfect candidate to be appointed as the India Test captain for the 2025-2027 ICC World Test Championship cycle starting with the India vs England 1st Test match beginning from 20 June, 2025. According to a latest media report, Shubman had a big discussion with Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar to discuss India's Test cricket future. It is also being learnt that the BCCI will officially announce the new Test captain through a press conference scheduled to take place on May 23 or 24. 

While talking about Shubman Gill stats in Test cricket so far, the right-handed batter has scored a total of 1893 runs from 32 Test matches at an average of 35.06 that includes as many as 7 half-centuries and 5 hundreds. He was also the vice-captain of the India ODI team during their sensational triumph at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. On the other hand, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant is being considered as the topmost candidate for the vice-captaincy role as the BCCI will want Bumrah to concentrate on his individual performance across the three formats of the game. 

The other major concern is that several members of the BCCI are in constant talks with Virat Kohli in order to convince him to reconsider his potential decision to retire from Test cricket. However, if Kohli announces his Test retirement with immediate effect, India will be playing the five-match Test series in England with a rather inexperienced batting line-up. BCCI is very much likely to announce the India Test squad for the upcoming England tour later this month and there might be some major surprises especially in the batting line-up.