"Almost made our one-day debut together" - Shubman Gill cites special bonding with India teammate ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Team India's newly-appointed Test captain Shubman Gill believes off-field relationships with players help massively in establishing control on-field as well ahead of the series against England. The 25-year-old cited Mohammed Siraj's example of how they started their international careers almost together.

Although Siraj had made his T20I debut in 2017, he had to wait until 2019 for his first ODI and played his maiden Test the very next year. Gill and Siraj notably made their first Test appearances in Melbourne against Australia in 2020 and provided notable contributions to India's victory. They also played together in IPL 2025 for the Gujarat Titans.

When asked by Dinesh Karthik on Sky Sports, how his off-field relationships help him on the field as well, the Punjab-born cricketer claimed:

"It helps massively. With Siraj, we made we made our Test debut together. We made, we almost made our one day debut together, he made one match prior to mine. We played so many matches of India together, so having that bond with him and knowing what he's capable of and like I said keep making or keeping a secure environment and making the player feel secure in his abilities his capabilities I feel is one of the most important things that a leader has to do. Having these kind of relationships I think help a lot."

With Rohit Sharma retiring from the format, Gill has been handed over the responsibility of captaining the side. The youngster has played only three Tests in England, scoring 88 runs in those at 14.67.

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"I personally feel that we had two very good series" - Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill. (Image Credits: Getty)

Shubman Gill was also asked by Dinesh Karthik on what he expects from senior players like KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. In response, Gill said he doesn't have anything specific but claimed to rely on their experience of what works in English conditions:

"From players like KL Rahul, Jaddu bhai and Boom bhai like I honestly don't really have any kind of set expectations from them. They have come here they have all played more than maybe 10-15 test matches in England and they know what can or cannot be done here and they are sharing their experience of you know how you can win test matches in England. The first time I think KL bhai came or Boom bhai came in 2018, even that Test series was much closer than what it looked like on paper."

"The next time that we played in England, we drew the series 2-2. But the confidence that we have from the previous two series I think it's very important to be able to take that confidence into that series. I personally feel that we had two very good series. We might have not won those series but there were a lot of positives that we took from that series," he added.

The first Test between India and England begins on June 20 in Leeds.