Former India opener Aakash Chopra has said that Shubman Gill will almost certainly be appointed India’s captain for the upcoming Test series against England. However, he added that it will be a huge tour for Gill as he hasn’t yet performed well outside Asia. India are scheduled to tour England for a five-match Test series, with the first game taking place in Leeds from June 20 onwards. With Rohit Sharma announcing his retirement from Test cricket, India will have a new permanent captain as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “It’s been heard that Jasprit Bumrah has said that he cannot play all five Tests. If that’s true, you cannot make him the captain. You have to go in a different direction. Forget frontrunner, it seems like Shubman Gill’s appointment has happened. You will get the confirmation on May 23. If we see Shubman Gill’s numbers, they aren’t very good. He has an average of 35 in the last five years, which is not ideal. So it could be a massive assignment for him as you have gone with a captain who has been awesome in ODI cricket, isn’t part of the T20I team, and Test cricket is still going middling. He still has to score runs outside Asia.”

ALSO READ: “In the next T20 World Cup in India, he’ll be number one bowler” – Mohammad Kaif on Varun Chakravarthy

However, Aakash Chopra also shared that Rishabh Pant will likely be appointed Shubman Gill’s deputy for India’s Test tour of England as well.

“It also seems like Rishabh Pant will be made the vice-captain. If you are thinking why Rishabh Pant should be made the vice-captain, if we see the journey from 2020 to 2025, Rishabh Pant is India’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are also there, but Rishabh Pant is at the top of the table, and this is when he didn’t play for a long time in between because of the accident that he had,” Aakash Chopra concluded.