New Delhi [India], June 15 (ANI): Former cricketer Surinder Khanna expects India to “do well” under Shubman Gill’s newly established captaincy in the upcoming challenging Test tour of England, which will kick off on June 20 at Headingley.
India is walking towards a new dawn after the batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bid adieu to the format last month. Gill was deemed Rohit’s successor and crowned the Test captain, with Rishabh Pant serving as his deputy.
Apart from the two acclaimed batting wizards, India will miss the presence of its crafty frontline spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
With India slim on experience against fearless England, who have instilled the ideology of ‘Bazball’ in their style of play, fans and former cricketers have concerns about how the touring party would fare in five Tests.
Surinder acknowledged that India has a young team, considering a couple of new faces brought in to fill the void left by the former stars. Despite the youthfulness, Surinder believes there are stars, including Gill, Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, who have played for enough years to steer India to glory.
“This is a young team, but Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill have played for some years. You have to start somewhere. You have talent, and now you have responsibility. Now it is up to the young team to live up to the expectations of the nation, and they have the potential,” Surinder told ANI.
“We have seen Gill leading a side in the limited-overs cricket; he is calm. Pant has been out of form, but he plays well in Test cricket. We have Bumrah, (who is) experienced, and one of the finest new ball bowlers in the world. I expect them to do well in England,” he added.
The five-match Test series will take place from June 20 to August 4, with matches scheduled at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s and The Oval (London), and Old Trafford (Manchester).
India’s Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
England squad for first Test vs India: Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes. (ANI)
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