India announced the squad for the five-match Test series against England from June 20. The England Tests will be the first prominent series in many years that India will play without two of their greatest players - Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who announced their retirements ahead of the series.

Rohit Sharma's retirement left selectors with a huge task of selecting the next India captain in Tests. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Jasprit Bumrah, who was the vice-captain of the Test team, led India in the absence of Rohit Sharma, and he was the front-runner to lead the side. However, things changed quickly after he picked up a back injury in the fifth Test.

It became vital for the BCCI to manage his workload, which put him out of the captaincy race because the odds were high that he wouldn't be able to play all five Tests of the England tour.

Shubman Gill Becomes 37th India Test Captain

With Bumrah out of the leadership race, the BCCI had to look for a credible replacement, and Shubman Gill's name popped up. Gill's chances of leading India were helped by the Gujarat Titans' terrific performance in the IPL 2025, where the team delivered an exceptional performance and qualified for the playoffs.

Gill will become the 37th Test skipper for India. While Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul were in the fray, the selectors sided with Gill.

India Squad For England Tests

Meanwhile, the India squad saw Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair bag a slot in the India squad. Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Dhruv Jurel were also retained. Nitish Reddy was picked as the fast bowling all-rounder along with Shardul Thakur, while Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were spin bowling all-rounders. Kuldeep Yadav was picked as the specialist spinner.. Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj were picked as specialist pacers.

India Squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC/WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindrsa Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akashdeep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav