India’s newly appointed Test captain Shubman Gill shared his perspectives on the leadership styles of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who recently announced their retirements from Test cricket ahead of India’s five-match series against England scheduled from June to August 2025.Rohit Sharma announced his retirement on May 7 after a Test career spanning 67 matches over 11 years. The announcement came before India’s upcoming tour of England, which marks the beginning of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle from June 20.
Virat Kohli followed suit on May 12, announcing his retirement from Test cricket more than a month before the England series.
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In an interview with Sky Sports Cricket, Gill praised Rohit’s aggressive tactical approach and communication style. “Rohit bhai is also very aggressive in terms of his tactics. Tactically, he’s quite an aggressive captain. He is someone who is very clear with his communication prior to the matches, during the series, and even after the series, about what he wants from the players. The kind of environment I think Rohit bhai keeps. Like, even if Rohit bhai is swearing at you, you would not take it to your heart. That’s just kind of his personality. And I think that’s a great trait to have. He’s firm, but even if he’s being hard on you, you know that it’s not coming from his heart.”
Speaking about Kohli’s captaincy, Gill highlighted his proactive approach. “When I played under Virat bhai, I think his proactiveness in the test matches with the field or with the ideas or with his thinking was something that I liked and that I picked up. He was very proactive with his thinking. If he thinks that, okay, this plan is not working, he would immediately have another plan, communicate to the bowler what he wants from them. And it can seem like he is not aggressive.”Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?The five-match Test series will be played across various venues in England, including Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s, Old Trafford, and The Oval.This series marks the beginning of a new era for Indian cricket, with Shubman Gill becoming India’s youngest Test captain, taking over from Rohit Sharma.The Indian Test squad for the England series comprises Shubman Gill as captain and Rishabh Pant as vice-captain. The team includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL 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.
