Winning a Test series in England is bigger than winning IPL: Shubman Gill

Published - 19 Jun 2025, 18:56 IST | Updated - 19 Jun 2025, 19:19 IST

India have appointed Shubman Gill as their newest captain in Tests. The first challenge for the newly-appointed skipper is going to be the upcoming series against England, where Gill's men will be contesting the Three Lions in a five-match series, starting June 20. Gill, who has previously captained in T20s, and also leads popular franchise Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League, has expressed the difference between the feeling of winning an IPL season versus winning a Test series in overseas conditions.

On the eve of the first Test, Gill addressed a press conference with members from the media throwing down beamers at him before he actually faces a few of those in the match. Gill, however, tackled the questions beautifully and said that in his opinion, winning an IPL can not come close to winning an away series against some of the topmost teams in world cricket.

"Captain, may I ask you,if you imagine winning five test series in England and imagine winning the IPL, which one seems more magnificent to you?" a reporter questioned Gill.

"Definitely the test series, in my opinion. You know, you don't get many opportunities as a captain to be able to come to England, maybe two, if you are the best of your generation, maybe three. So, and IPL comes every year and you get to go have a crack at it every year. So, in my opinion, winning a test series in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa are bigger," Gill responded.

Following the retirement of legendary batter Virat Kohli, Gill has confirmed that he will be the new No. 4 batter for the Indian team in the red-ball format going forward. He said that he arrived at this significant decision following a thoughtful conversation with head coach Gautam Gambhir. Meanwhile, star wicketkeeper-batter and Gill's new deputy Rishabh Pant will be seen sticking to his original batting position of No. 5. The question around the batters at third and sixth position in the batting order remains a huge question, but it is not going to be long before the same is revealed.

India squad for 1st Test vs England: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK & VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, B Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Dhurv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Harshit Rana