Shubman Gill has replaced Rohit Sharma as the new India Test captain and the 25-year-old's first assignment is a tour to England which starts Friday with the first of five Test matches. Apart from leading the Test side for the first time, Gill also has the challenge of managing an inexperienced side without their batting stalwart Virat Kohli and former captain Rohit.
Below is a brief profile of Shubman Gill who arrived in Indian cricket as a prodigy and has refused to look back since then.
Shubman Gill Fact File
Born in 1999 in Punjab's Fazilka, Gill and his family moved to Mohali so that the boy could learn cricket professionally. Gill kept piling up runs in junior cricket and soon broke into the senior Punjab side.
He made his Punjab debut at just 17 and scored a century in only his second First Class game. Soon, Gill was appointed the vice captain for the U-19 World Cup in 2018 and he stamped his authority at the big stage. Gill was India's highest scorer in the competition and was also the Player of the Tournament. India won the title and the Punjab boy had established himself as the future star for the Indian team.
It did not take him long to graduate from Under-19 set up to the senior Indian team. In 2019, Gill made his India debut against New Zealand in an ODI.
Gill then made his red ball debut in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy's Boxing Day Test and scored a crucial 45 and 35 not out in India's win. He then slammed a terrific 91 in the second innings of the Brisbane Test where India wrapped up a historical series win in Australia.
The stylish right-hander, known for his supremacy over the short ball, has kept going since his international debut. Gill is currently the top-ranked ODI batter and also has a double century to his name in the 50-over format.
Gill has eight ODI centuries in 55 innings with an outstanding average of 59 and a strike rate close to 100. In Tests, his returns have not been as good as in ODIs and the new Indian Test captain currently averages 35.05 in 32 Tests.
As for captaincy, Gill has captained his Indian Premier League side Gujarat Titans for the last two seasons and in the 2025 edition also took the team to Play-offs. He also captained India's T20I side on a tour to Zimbabwe in 2024 where a second string Indian team won 4-1.
