"Give some time to him; he will rise to the occasion": Harbhajan Singh backs new Indian Test skipper Shubman Gill

Jalandhar (Punjab) [India], June 12 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Harbhajan Singh, on Wednesday backed the right-hand batter Shubman Gill, who was appointed the captain of the Indian Cricket Team in the longest format of the game recently and said that he should be given timeto gave the results.

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After batting wizards Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bid adieu to Test cricket last month, India was left short on experience. With India bereft of its torchbearers, the management turned to youngsters to mark the beginning of a new era. After their decision, the captaincy baton was passed from Rohit to Gill.

Speaking on Shubman Gill's Test captaincy, Harbhajan told media, "Every captain has the capability to carry forward the legacy. Captains are not made in 1-2 months. You give some time to Gill, he will rise to the occasion, and you will see how capable he is as a captain. We have already seen him as a batter, that he is 'Gill Sahab the great'."

Further, the 44-year-old spoke about the upcoming tour of England, where the young brigade will play five Test matches from June to August 2025, with matches scheduled at Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord's and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.

"We hope that India does well once again on English soil. Best wishes to Shubman Gill and Team India. It is a young team but a 'dum waali team'," the former spinner added.

India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), 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, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)

The English squad: Ben Stokes (Durham) - Captain, Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire). (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)