‘Hope they come back victorious’: Kapil Dev extends best wishes to Shubman Gill-led Indian team ahead of England series

NEW DELHI: As India prepares for a high-stakes Test series in England under the leadership of Shubman Gill, legendary cricketer Kapil Dev extended his best wishes to the young captain and the team on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of the much-anticipated tour, the former India skipper expressed his pride and optimism. “We feel very proud and wish them all the luck. I hope they come back victorious,” said the 1983 World Cup-winning captain on the sidelines of an event here.

#WATCH | Delhi | On Shubman Gill-led India’s Test team ready to take on England, Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev says, “…We feel very proud and wish them all the luck. I hope they come back victorious…” pic.twitter.com/cVQ2bxBSUe

— ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2025

Kapil also shared his thoughts on premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who has made it clear that he does not want to take on the responsibility of leading the national side in Test cricket. Respecting Bumrah’s stance, Kapil remarked, “This is his personal views, to me the team is more important.”

The fourth-ranked Test team will line up without its batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who bid adieu to the Test format last month. Along with the batting wizards, India won’t have the presence of its frontline crafty off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired from international cricket midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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

England Playing XI for the 1st Test against India: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir. (ANI)