Sawt Falasteen - India name Shubman Gill as new Test captain

Gill, 25, succeeds Rohit Sharma, who recently retired from Tests along with Virat Kohli. He will take charge in a five-Test series in England starting June 20.

Gill will lead a team in transition after Rohit, 38, and Kohli, 36, walked away from the five-day format earlier this month in a space of six days to leave a big void.

"Shubman Gill-led TeamIndia are READY for an action-packed Test series", the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.

His vice-captain will be Rishabh Pant.

But pace bowler Mohammed Shami has been left out of the 18-member squad due to fitness concerns, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said at a news conference.

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah is in the squad but will not be able to play all five Tests due to his workload management.

Gifted with a wide range of shots, Gill has led Indian Premier League team Gujarat Titans into the playoffs of this edition of the T20 tournament.

He has played 32 Tests, scoring 1,893 runs at an average of 35.05 with five hundreds since his debut at Melbourne in 2020.

Gill has been a mainstay of India's batting in Test and ODI cricket and earlier this year played a key role in the team's 50-overs Champions Trophy title in Dubai.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST