Shubman Gill has been appointed as the new captain of Team India in Test cricket, marking him as a leading figure in the transition of eras in Indian cricket.
Gill is set to become the fifth-youngest player to lead India in Test matches, at the age of 25 years and 285 days old, should he lead them in the first Test against England from June 20. Now, it has emerged that legendary Indian cricketer and former India head coach Rahul Dravid was consulted by the selectors before Gill was appointed captain.
Dravid has been Gill’s coach at both junior and senior levels. Dravid was the coach of the India U19 team that won the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, which Gill was a part of.
Dravid’s term as India’s head coach, between 2021 and 2024, saw Gill emerge into prominence as one of the nation’s leading batters across formats.
Therefore, given his role in the rise of Gill, Dravid was reportedly consulted by the selectors regarding the choice of handing the Test captaincy to him.
“The selectors spoke to Dravid as he had seen Gill when he was a teenager and had also coached him at the U19 and the senior team. He had some great things to say about Gill’s potential as a leader,” said a BCCI source, as per a report by Hindustan Times.
The 25-year-old has been earmarked by BCCI’s chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar as India’s long-term captain. Agarkar stated that the decision to select Gill as a captain isn’t just for one or two tours, implying that it is a call taken for the future.
Gill has been slowly embedded into leadership roles within the India camp. He was appointed vice-captain in white-ball formats in 2024, and was also the deputy to Rohit Sharma during India’s Champions Trophy 2025 title-winning campaign.
In the meantime, Gill has also shown promise as a captain through his leadership of Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2025. With a game to spare in the league stage of the ongoing tournament, Gill has led GT to the top of the table.
Gill has also performed admirably with the bat during this period. He is firmly in the race to become the top run-scorer of IPL 2025, having amassed 636 runs, with six half-centuries, in just 13 matches. Therefore, despite having a moderate Test average of 35, there is promise that Gill isn’t someone whose individual performance gets bogged down by captaincy.