3 Reasons Why India Might Prefer Shubman Gill Over Rishabh Pant For Test Captaincy

Gill over Pant in Test captaincy [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com]

With the Indian Premier League reaching its business end, the focus will suddenly shift towards the big India tour of England, set to take place in June. In the last one year, the Rohit Sharma led Indian side has been under shambles, losing 0-3 to New Zealand at home and then getting humbled by Australia.

As per a report by Express Sports, the team management are considering making massive changes, and one of them is not considering Jasprit Bumrah for captaincy. However, they are also keen on making Shubman Gill the Test vice-captain over Rishabh Pant and here are 3 reasons why the board could take this huge call.

1) Gill being the vice-captain of the ODI side

In a surprising move prior to the Champions Trophy, the Indian team made Gill the vice-captain of the ODI team and it baffled everyone since the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya were available for the job.

However, it seems the board is looking at a long-term prospect and with Gill getting groomed under Rohit in ODIs, he could potentially be looked as his replacement in Tests as well. Over the years, the team management has backed him heavily despite failures and him getting the vice-captain nod meant that the board is looking at him as a future Test captain as well.

2) Gill's excellent captaincy record over Pant in IPL 2025

Gill had no prior experience of leading an IPL side before the 2024 season, but Hardik Pandya's departure lead to the Gujarat Titans management making him their captain. The first season was decent, but in the ongoing season, the Titans skipper has impressed everyone with his leadership skills.

So much so, that the side is sitting comfortably in the top-4 spot and have been doing extremely well under Gill's captaincy. On the other hand, Pant's team, Lucknow Super Giants started well in the league, but midway they flunked as Pant's captaincy has come under scrutiny as the leader of the side has made some tactical blunders which costed his team many matches.

3) No captaincy pressure for Gill

In the ongoing league, the captaincy pressure has taken no toll on Gill as he is in the Orange Cap race. However, Pant, being the highest paid player in the league is struggling to justify his price tag.

As the stats suggests, the captaincy pressure had no burden on Gill who is flying-high in the league. However, Pant's numbers tells the entire story. The Indian management keep a close eye on IPL performances and this season could be decisive in grooming the future Test captain.

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