Sunil Gavaskar picks his next India captain among Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant

Published - 17 May 2025, 19:13 IST | Updated - 17 May 2025, 19:16 IST

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar highlighted the captaincy traits of Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer. India are all set to announce a new Test captain in the coming days after Rohit Sharma retired form the longest format of the game on May 7.

As per reports, Shubman is the frontrunner to take up the prestigious role. However, Pant is also in contention as he is more experienced and has produced some memorable performances with the bat in Test cricket. Meanwhile, Shreyas last played a Test match for India in February 2024, but is in line to return to the squad for the upcoming five-Test tour of England.

Gavaskar, a former India captain, stated that all three aforementioned contenders possess strong leadership qualities, but he feels that Gill is leading the race to become India’s next Test skipper.

"It would take a couple of years (to groom future leaders) to get to the level of our super captains (MS Dhoni, Rohit, Virat). All of them brought a different approach to captaincy," Gavaskar said on Star Sports Press Room.

"When you see Gill, Iyer and Pant, three main pretenders to Indian captaincy you see an amalgamation of all three (Dhoni, Rohit, Virat). Gill probably is more competitive, when there is a decision, he is asking the umpire right away. He is probably a lot more involved,” Gavaskar said.

"Though Pant is behind the stumps, he is also very involved. Iyer too has been superb. All three have brought a lot of positivity in the way they have been captaining,” he added.

Shubman has led India in five T20Is in the past. He was the captain of a young Indian team which defeated Zimbabwe 4-1 in Harare last year. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah was also in contention to lead India in red-ball cricket, but the veteran fast bowler has reportedly opted out due to workload management concerns.

India will begin their World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-2027 cycle with the high-profile series against England. The first Test begins on June 20 in Leeds.