Shardul Thakur highlights contrasting personalities of captain-deputy duo of Gill, Pant

New Delhi [India], May 28 (ANI): Ahead of the five-match Test series against England, star India all-rounder Shardul Thakur opened up and shared his thoughts on the contrasting personalities of Test skipper Shubman Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant.

On Saturday, right-hand batter Shubman Gill was appointed as the new Test captain for India, while wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will serve as his deputy in the longest format, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the highly anticipated five-match Test series.

Speaking on the appointment of Gill and Pant, Shardul Thakur, while speaking to Boria Majumdar on Revsportz, said, "They both are big players and the future of India for sure. They are very different in character - where Shubman is a very serious and calm, composed kind of person when it comes to the game, and Rishabh is a funny and lively guy. But this again is their USP in their own way. They have contributed towards the game on the biggest stages and crucial ones, and that makes them very promising players for the future of India."

The series against England will take place from June to August 2025, with matches at Headingley (Leeds), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord's (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), and The Oval (London).

India has added Abhimanyu Easwaran to the Test squad. He has been a domestic cricket stalwart for Bengal, with 101 first-class games, 7,674 runs at an average of 48.87, 27 centuries, and 29 fifties behind him. He had a disappointing tour to Australia last year, where he scored just 36 runs in four innings.

Following Kohli's retirement from the longest format of the game, a couple of budding and solidified figures like Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair have been added to the middle-order.

In the bowling department, right-arm seamer Jasprit Bumrah will be leading the unit on English soil. Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Shardul Thakur are the other fast bowlers in the squad.

This will be India's first bilateral series since both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket earlier this month.

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