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File photo of India fast bowler Mohammed Shami© AFP
Shubman Gill was on Saturday appointed India's new Test captain while Rishabh Pant was named his deputy, starting with the five-match series in England. The selectors decision on the team's leadership was on expected lines following the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Young left-hander B Sai Sudharsan earned his maiden Test call-up. The squad also features Karun Nair, who returns to the national set up up after seven years. A notable exclusion was pacer Mohammed Shami, who was deemed not fit enough for the long series. "Last year or so we have looked at Shubman (for leadership). We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take the team forward). It is a high pressure job but he is a terrific player. We wish him all the best," said chief selector Ajit Agarkar after announcing the squad.
On Shami, he added: "His workload is not where it needs to be. We were hoping he will be available but it is unfortunate. At the moment he is not fully fit. From tour of Australia, Harshit Rana and Sarfaraz Khan have been dropped.
Agarkar also opened up about the decision to appoint Gill as the next captain.
"We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement.”
“We're hopeful he's the guy. He's a terrific player, our best wishes to him. You don't pick captains for one tour or two tours. We've seen some progress over the last year or two with him. No doubt it's going to be as tough as it gets," said Agarkar
Squad: Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L 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 and Kuldeep Yadav.
(With agency inputs)
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