“I want to be the best batter in the series” - Shubman Gill opens up ahead of England tour

Ahead of the start of the England tour, the new Indian Test captain Shubman Gill has set things straight, stating that he would end the series as the leading run-scorer in the five-match Test series, scheduled to start on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds.

Addressing the media ahead of the first Test, Gill reckoned that he would like to go out to bat, not thinking too much about captaincy, which could put pressure on him. Notably, this would be the first series for Team India without the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin in the transitional phase.

“When I want to go out there and bat, I want to play as a batter and not think about the captaincy, which can put pressure on me. I want to be the best batter in the series,” Gill said at the press conference.

“Yes, definitely. It’s the biggest honour a player can get. Captaining your country in Test cricket is something not many have the opportunity to do. I’m very excited about it,” he added.

Gill, who has played 32 Tests, has accumulated 1893 runs so far with six centuries. However, he suffered a lot in the SENA conditions, averaging only 25.70 in 11 matches. In England, he could score only 88 runs in three Tests at an average of 14.66.

In the other media conference, Team India vice-captain Rishabh Pant has confirmed that Gill would bat at No.4 while he will take up the No.5 position in the first Test. Team India will take on England in the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, scheduled to start on June 20 in Leeds.

India's squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.

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