Shubman Gill Press Conference Highlights: 'Anyone can be called if you are in form' - Gambhir on Iyer's omission

“Anyone can be called if you are in form. We can only pick 18. The chairman of selectors have answered the questioned.”

Shreyas Iyer was not picked despite performing well in domestic cricket and international white-ball matches for India. Sarfaraz Khan was also snubbed from the main squad.

Gautam Gambhir has slammed the RCB victory celebrations that resulted in a stampede in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

“I was never a believer that we need to have road shows. I was of the same opinion I was playing even after winning 2007. Life of people is far important. I will continue to saying that. In the future, we need to be more aware. Have it in closed door or inside a stadium. It is very tragic what happened. we are all responsible. I hope nothing like this happens in future.”

Gambhir has said that they have not decided on the playing XI yet.

“We will play the best playing XI which can give us result whether that is spin bowling all-rounder or pace-bowling all-rounder. Test matches can be won only by taking 20 wickets.”

Gambhir has said the team has not decided which three Tests Bumrah will play, as it depends on the series situation.

“Not decided which 3 Tests Jasprit Bumrah will play. Lot of will depend on the results and where the series is header. We have picked enough bowlers. Lot our of pacers are in great space to win us Test matches from any position. When you have someone like Jasprit Bumrah, depending on how many matches he plays, will be a great sight for us.”
“It’s difficult to replace Jasprit Bumrah but I said during Champions trophy, we have enough qualify”

“His white-ball form has been incredibly good. But he’s got a little bit of work to do on his Test match batting. And that’s never easy when you’re a new captain — to have to worry about your batting to the degree that he’s going to have to. It won’t be easy for him,” Ponting told PTI.

“If they go with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan as openers, they need someone more experienced at No. 3 — maybe KL Rahul or Karun Nair. That would allow Shubman to bat at four,” Ponting explained. “Once you grow into it, then you can move yourself back up to No. 3.”

Besides captain Gill and his deputy Rishabh Pant, India’s squad for the upcoming five-Test series includes fresh faces such as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat Titans opener Sai Sudharsan, who is in red-hot form at the moment. White-ball star Arshdeep Singh, meanwhile, has received his maiden Test call-up while Karun Nair returns to the Test team after gap of eight years.

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, however, have ignored senior pacer Mohammed Shami and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer for the upcoming series.

India squad for the England Test series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

Jamie Overton earns a surprise recall into the Test side three years since making his only appearance in the format while Jofra Archer, who is currently recovering from a thumb injury, has been left out.

England squad for the first Test against India: Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

The upcoming Test series between India and England gets underway on 20 June at Headingley, Leeds, with the final Test set to begin on 31 July at The Oval in London.

Here’s the full schedule of the upcoming series: 

1st Test: 20-24 June at Headingley, Leeds

2nd Test: 2 to 6 July at Edgbaston, Birmingham

3rd Test: 10 to 14 July at Lord’s, London

4th Test: 23 to 27 July at Old Trafford, Manchester

5th Test: 31 July to 4 August at The Oval, London

Shreyas Iyer’s absence from the Test squad could be a major talking point, given his seniority and leadership skills as well as the fact that he has been in red-hot form for months now. Virat Kohli’s sudden Test retirement along with his recent comments on the format during the IPL final could be another.

Let’s also not forget the fact that Gill be captaining the Indian team for the first time and his maiden assignment will be a five-Test series in England – where India have won a Test series just thrice till date. So the top-order batter sure can expect plenty of questions along those lines.