Shubman Gill named India's Test captain, Rishabh Pant to be his deputy

Ajit Agarkar led selection committee has named Shubman Gill as the captain of Indian team while Rishabh Pant has been named his deputy. Gill has captained Gujarat Titans in this IPL season and has led the franchise to this year's playoffs. Meanwhile, Pant has led the Lucknow Super Giants and has also previously captained Delhi Capitals.

Ajit Agarkar on why Shubman Gill was named India's Test captain:

Speaking about the decision to pick Shubman Gill as India's Test captain, Agarkar said, "I mean, you don't pick captains for one door or two doors when you want to, want to try and invest in something that's going to help us going forward. That's, I mean, you always, like I said, maybe we've seen some progress over the course of the last year or two with him. There's no doubt with it. It is going to be as tough as it's going to be a five-match series in England, and maybe he'll have to learn on the job a little bit.

India's Test squad for England tour: 

With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring ahead of the squad announcement, several new names have been included in the side, including Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur and Akash Deep.

Agarkar confirmed that Mohammed Shami's fitness was a concern and he will not be available to play all the five matches in England. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah will also not be available to play all the matches, meaning the bulk of the load will have to be shared between India's next generation of pacers.

Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (2nd wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav.