Shubman Gill takes guard at the dawn of India’s next test

Shubman Gill takes guard at the dawn of India's next test

In September 2024, on the eve of the Duleep Trophy as India's domestic season stirred to life under overcast Bengaluru skies, Shubman Gill allowed himself a brief glance into the near future. A long stretch of Test cricket lay ahead, his chance to steady what had been a stop-start journey in the format. "Hopefully, after these 10 Tests end, I'll be up to my expectations or more," said the captain of India 'A'.

He began with a century in Chennai. Then came an accomplished 90 on a turner in Mumbai. But soon, the season drifted, much like his brief Test career so far, into a familiar mix of promise and pauses. But just eight months on, the view has entirely shifted. The 'A' has slipped away. Gill now stands as India's 37th Test captain, at the front of a new era, with more than just his own expectations resting on his shoulders.

This (c) change was sudden. Every move of an Indian captain is amplified. MS Dhoni once spoke of how captaincy quickly added grey to his beard. By his second series in charge, even Virat Kohli's face bore early signs of that weight. For now, Gill's clean-shaven look is perhaps for the best, a small but fitting metaphor of India's fresh start in the format.

There's a certain novelty to the appointment. Despite Punjab's deep imprint on Indian cricket, the Test captaincy has seldom knocked on its door in the modern era. Gill, for all his prodigious batting gifts, wasn't marked out as a leader through his junior years like Kohli once was. Even among his peers, Rishabh Pant boasts a heftier resume'. And yet, in the corridors of the dressing room, the faith has quietly grown: in his calm presence and his ability to read the game. In the middle of a generational shift, it is Gill who has been handed the mandate to lead.

The Indian cricket system has pushed Gill hard, much like WWE once did with Roman Reigns, cast early as the face of the future, ready or not. In Gill's debut series, Kohli claimed the 19-year-old was 10 times the player he had been at a similar age. Like Kohli, Gill's ODI record already gleams, but across formats the wait for full validation has stretched longer than many expected after his Gabba heroics. The title of Prince, part prophecy, part branding, was attached to him early. It now travels with him to the crease, stitched onto the newly-acquired MRF sticker on his bat, following a lineage of Indian cricket's biggest names. But now, as he steps into Test leadership, those other labels will fall away. This is where the Gill era truly begins, where plans and performances, not projections, will define him.

This latest elevation comes at a decisive moment. Gill's own Test average – 35.05 after 32 matches and five hundreds – still demands upward correction. It's not far off from where Kohli stood before Adelaide 2014 – 39.46 after 29 matches and six hundreds – when adjusted for the current tougher batting era. Kohli had come off a bruising tour of England where his game had unravelled. But in Australia, everything clicked; he found his footing as a Test batter and never looked back. Gill arrives at a familiar turn: to steady his own blade while beginning to carve the shape of India's next era. India are in the middle of a full-blown reset, having lost six of their last eight Tests, including a 0-3 sweep at home. Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma are gone. Mohammed Shami, now nearly 35, hasn't played a Test in over two years. Only Jadeja, Bumrah and KL Rahul remain – the last links to India's most successful red-ball side.

India, like Australia, don't stumble into transitions every few years. When change arrives, it tends to arrive in sweeping, generational shifts. Then there's no looking back. One came in 1996, when Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly walked in together at Lord's. In the early 2000s, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan completed that core, shaping a side that carried Indian cricket for nearly a decade. The next great reset didn't arrive until 2013, with the end of Sachin Tendulkar's reign. That gave rise to the era that has only now wound down. Now, here stands Gill, at the doorway of the next great handover. He inherits not just the title, but the responsibility of shaping what Indian Test cricket becomes next.

In many ways, he inherits the job at a time when Indian cricket, as an institution, sits at its most commanding height. The IPL has never been stronger. Two ICC white-ball trophies have arrived within the past year. The talent pool is deep, the bench strength staggering, the ecosystem finely tuned. In most rooms that matter, boardrooms or dressing rooms, India call the shots.

But Test cricket is a different frontier, and this is the one Gill must now rebuild. The stability that defined India's longest-format side for over a decade has dissolved. New batting pillars must emerge. Jaiswal has offered a thrilling glimpse of the future; behind him, names like Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Reddy jostle to break through. The bowling still carries an elite edge through Bumrah and Jadeja, but even there, the support acts and the next wave will soon need grooming.

And a tour of England, where India haven't won a series since 2007, even with some of their best teams, offers no soft landing. Five-Test series can expose cricketers. England under Stokes and McCullum will hit India hard. Bumrah will be absent for at least two Tests. The batting unit will be tested by the Dukes ball and the vagaries of the British weather.

Gill's task is complex: to lead, while building the side he leads. Where he takes this team, and how quickly he shapes its character in the early days, may well define this next era, and whether India's dominance can truly stretch across formats. The scoreboard is cleared. The next innings is his to build.