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  • 5/24/2025
India tour of England: Chief selector Ajit Agarkar addressed the press in Mumbai after announcing India's 18-man squad for the five-Test series, starting June 20. Shubman Gill was named India's new Test captain and Rishabh Pant was appointed his deputy.

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00:00Akash Deep, Ashdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yalap. It's our 18-man squad.
00:30We will discuss other options also about the championship on Akon to Shubman, and who is your number of investment?
00:38I mean, look, obviously you discuss every option that's there. I think over the last year or so we've looked at Shubman at various times.
00:49I think even when we played England last year, you take a lot of feedback sometimes for the dressing room as well.
00:55Obviously he's very young, but we've seen the improvement, and I know it's T20 cricket for GT as well, but you take feedback from a lot of people.
01:05And we're hopeful that he's the guy who can, it's obviously going to be a, like it always is a high pressure job, but we're hopeful that he's, we've picked the right guy.
01:15I mean, he's a terrific player and our best wishes to him.
01:21Number four, look, I think Gigi and Shubman might probably take a call on that once they get there, so I don't want to sit here and give a batting order.
01:31But once they get there, I think they'll probably have a think about that or have a chat about it.
01:38Yeah.
01:39Just wanted to ask, the stadium away from Mohamed Shambi, what is his fitness day? Was he not fit for all the fighters?
01:46What's the goal he has had for the end game?
01:50Yeah, I mean, we've been, we've sort of been, he's been trying to get fit for the series, of course, but I think he's had a little bit of a setback over the last week or so, and he's got some MRIs done.
02:03And like you mentioned, I don't think he was going to be able to play five tests and at the moment, I don't think his workload is where it needs to be.
02:11So it's, it's just the medical guys who've told us that he's been ruled out of this series.
02:16It's unfortunately, we were hoping that he's available for some part of the series at least, but if he's not fit at the moment, it's very difficult to keep waiting.
02:26It's, it's rather planned with the guys that are fit and available.
02:30So yeah, it's unfortunate, you know, a bowler like him, you always want to try and pick, but at the moment, he's not fit to be picked.
02:37Yeah, I'm just, you said, you know, over the last year or so, you've been looking at Shubhan Bill as the captain, but how much easy was it or was it difficult when looking at various options, especially considering it was England two, five test series and you're putting the root key into the captaincy role straight away for a hard tour of England.
03:00I mean, you don't pick captains for one tour or two tours, you know, you want, you want to try and invest in something that's going to help us going forward.
03:14That's, I mean, you, you always, like I said, you were hoping that it's, it's the right call that we made.
03:19We've, we've seen some progress over, over the course of the last year or two with him.
03:25There's no doubt it is, it is going to be as tough as it gets doing a five match series, five match series in England.
03:32And maybe he'll have to learn on the job a little bit.
03:35But we are very confident with what he has to offer.
03:39And that's the reason we've, we've picked him.
03:42Ajit Bari, was this a tough best selection committee for you ever since you took over as the chairman of selectors, considering the fact two of the legends had just retired?
04:01And did you expect that or how was that retirement and that, you know, the kind of void they're ending?
04:07Was it so difficult to think about future and all? Could you just level it on that?
04:11Yeah, I mean, it's, when guys like that retire, it's always going to be big holes to fill.
04:17I mean, Ashwin retired a few months back as well.
04:19So those, those three guys are, you know, stalwarts of our cricket.
04:22It, it's always difficult.
04:26One way of looking at it is, it's an opportunity for someone else.
04:30They've left a legacy behind.
04:32I mean, obviously I've had conversations with both of them over the last couple of months.
04:38Virat obviously reached out early April and said he wants to finish.
04:43I mean, we've, we've seen him, you know, sort of give, what, 200% every ball that he, he plays.
04:49Even when he's not batting or he's, he's in the field, he probably felt that, you know, he had given everything that he had.
04:56And if he can't keep up to the standards that he set himself over the years and how, how good he's been.
05:02And maybe it was time for him.
05:04If it's come from him, it's, you know, you've got to respect that.
05:07I mean, they've, they've earned that respect, both of them.
05:10And, you know, and as all great players are, the one thing they are, is they're true to themselves.
05:17And he was in that conversation.
05:19So, you've got to respect that.
05:21I think we'll obviously miss.
05:23I mean, when you, when you've got a guy who's played, what, 123 test matches, 30 test hundreds.
05:29It's, it's going to be tough, tough to fill.
05:32It's an opportunity for someone else, but he's shown what needs to be done to succeed at this level.
05:38Yeah.
05:39I mean, needless to say, even Ro, he's been, he's been a leader over the last, what, couple of years since he started leading the test match.
05:46Test matches.
05:47It's a new cycle.
05:48So, it's an opportunity to build something for us as well, but there's no doubt.
05:52And that's why I think it's, we've got to show them the respect that they won't, instead of speculating too many things.
05:59It's sometimes a personal call with players and you've got to respect that.
06:04And like I said, their performances over the years have shown the amount of games that they've won for India.
06:11It's someone else's chance now.
06:13And, but there's no, there's no doubt we'll miss them.
06:15I mean, all three of them.
06:16And, and Shami really.
06:17You know, he's, again, in test cricket, he's been, he's been incredible.
06:21So, four guys like that, not being part of your squad, is going to make it a, a little bit tougher.
06:27But, it's an opportunity for other guys.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Hi.
06:32What's the status of Bombera?
06:34Is he, what's the status of Bombera?
06:39Is he available for all the five teams or like, what's the work for a transplant going forward?
06:45I, I don't think he'll be available for all, all five tests.
06:48As far as, again, the physios and the doctors have told us, whether it's four or three, I think we'll, we'll see how the series goes and how, how his body can take the workload.
06:59Needless to say, how important he is.
07:02So, even if he's fit for whether it's three or four tests, I think he's going to win us a few test matches here.
07:07So, we're just glad that he's fit and, you know, that little setback that he had in Australia wasn't too bad.
07:13And he's back playing.
07:14We've seen, I know it's T20 cricket at the moment, but we've seen what he's, what he's doing in the IPL.
07:20So, no, we're just happy that he's, he's part of the squad.
07:25So, it's good.
07:26So, just...
07:27Thanks for elaborating our work, Kodi and you over a bit, and taking an end to order to do a
07:37second part.
07:38How challenging was it to actually overlook someone like Oran, prefer gouvernement over someone like
07:44Subcar's who was around for 10 years and approximately in Australia?
07:49Yeah, I mean, sometimes you just have to make those decisions.
08:00I mean, Sarfaraz did play the three test matches in India.
08:04I know he got a hundred in the first test, didn't get runs, missed out in Australia.
08:10Sometimes those are decisions which the team management takes.
08:13Whether it's fair on somebody or unfair on someone, those are the choices that you make
08:18in the best interest of the team.
08:19And at the moment, we felt, you know, Karun obviously has put heaps of runs over the last
08:24couple of seasons.
08:25He's played a little bit of test cricket early in his career, has played a bit of county cricket.
08:30We feel that he's batting well enough.
08:33Also with now Virat not there, clearly lacking a little bit of experience in that batting.
08:41Jaiswal's touring for the first time to UK.
08:44I know Gilles played about one test match.
08:46So it's basically KL and Pant who've played a series before.
08:51So we felt his experience could help.
08:54Sometimes it is always going to be unfair on somebody else.
08:58But eventually you've got to make choices.
08:59I mean, not really.
09:11Booms, because he led in Australia, he was the vice captain in Australia, but once he's not going to be available for all the test matches, I think he's more important to us as a player.
09:35We want him fit.
09:37There's always that extra burden when you're leading, managing 15, 16 other people.
09:41There's a lot that it takes out of you.
09:43And we'd rather have him bowling as well as he does than putting that extra burden on him.
09:50He's aware of it.
09:51We've had a chat with him and he's okay with it.
09:54He knows where his body's at at the moment.
09:57And he'd rather look after himself and be bowling fit.
10:00But with KL, not really.
10:05I mean, you know, basically he's captain a while back, at least when I wasn't there.
10:10But again, he's a quality player and we hope that he has a big series because he's going to be an important player for us.
10:17But yeah, with Booms, I think it was more his workload management and having him fit as a bowler more than anything else.
10:54I mean, look, these eight tours are now with the… just before the tour.
11:21So, sometimes when you are six or seven guys from your test squad are going to go on that eight tour, it becomes difficult to then…
11:27There is… I mean, unfortunately, we can't take 50 people.
11:31You know, it's… I mean, Karuna is a performer in Ranjit Rufi, right?
11:34So, he's part of that.
11:37There's a Jaiswal, there's a Dhruv Jurel who's already part of that eight team who are going to be in the test team.
11:41So, someone's bound to miss out.
11:44But it was unfortunate.
11:45Even in Australia, when he went, I understand he didn't get a chance.
11:47But then KL Rahul went because he needed some game time before the test series.
11:50Yeah, but only 11 can play.
11:51So, someone will have to sit out at point, at some stage.
11:57You know, it's… I wish we could play 18, but we can't.
12:04Now, if you start picking on players through the history, there will be about a million players who have missed out.
12:08It's not intentional that you are keeping somebody out.
12:11But you are trying to pick the best possible players for that particular game or that series that you want to.
12:17And someone's going to miss out, like I say.
12:19Now, if you keep picking on names, it is never going to be a conversation starter anywhere.
12:25Because there will always be…
12:26Even when we pick 18, there's somebody who's missing out.
12:31Do those 18 guys who have been picked not deserve to be there?
12:34That's the question you need to answer.
12:36I mean…
12:37I don't want to say that.
12:38
12:39I don't want to say that.
12:40You can test last couple of questions…
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13:00I mean…
13:01
13:02
13:04
13:05picked? I don't know. You might know
13:07because I don't. Because again
13:09retirement, playing not
13:11I mean when somebody takes a call
13:19it's not up to me. You know eventually
13:21like I said I've had a call. They reached out
13:23and I've had a conversation with them.
13:25So whether somebody decides
13:27to retire or doesn't decide to retire, it's a personal
13:29call. Even if you're going to pick someone
13:31or not pick somebody, you're not going
13:33to ask that guy to retire. It's a personal
13:35call.
13:36You are in a better position
13:38to form a team
13:39call and come bachelorette.
13:44I mean
13:45I don't
13:48know whether we
13:50would have been in a better position.
13:51You know you're
13:52sorry. You're still
13:55it's a new WTC
13:58cycle. So you're looking at all sorts of scenarios
14:00for the next two years. What is
14:02going to help build a team leading
14:04up to that
14:05WTC final?
14:08I mean again it's a personal call. So when
14:10somebody calls it or doesn't
14:12call, again it's not up to
14:14us. Again like I said just
14:16all we need to do is show them
14:18a little bit more respect and move
14:20on. You know it's an opportunity for
14:22somebody else and that's our job eventually to pick
14:24someone else when someone finishes. So
14:26whether we would have been in a better
14:28position or not, it doesn't really matter.
14:30these two guys are big players for our, were big players for us in test cricket and
14:34those are going to be big holes to fill.
14:35So at the moment that
14:37is a bigger concern.
14:39Just before we take your next question, request to
14:41photograph us to not move around too much.
14:43Station yourself at one position please.
14:45Yeah, that and he's a quality bowler. I think he's had a little bit of taste of county cricket as well.
14:52Obviously plays every game that is available in domestic cricket. So he's had, we've watched him, tall guy again. Hopefully,
14:59you know, with the Duke ball, like you said, there's variety but there's also body of work in the red ball cricket. And
15:06he's been in decent form over the last couple of years. So, yeah, he's been in decent form over the last year, couple of years. So, yeah.
15:13Someone once they've played in those conditions, know it well, the ball is just a quality bowler. There's no other reason.
15:20And we've needed five seamers to go. I mean, obviously, Booms is unlikely to play all five test matches.
15:27So, yeah, he's been in decent form over the last couple of years. So, yeah.
15:32So, yeah, someone once they've played in those conditions, know it well, the ball is just a quality bowler. There's no other reason.
15:42And we've needed five seamers to go. I mean, obviously, Booms is unlikely to play all five test matches.
15:49So, we needed adequate cover. This provides us with a little bit of variety as well. So, now he's more because he's a quality bowler.
15:56I mean, honestly, I mean, unanimous that decision were.
16:03I mean, it's a big job. It's a big transition. Two of your big players retiring.
16:10So, yeah, but we were all confident that he's the guy to take us forward. And hopefully,
16:17in time, that proves it. So, no, I think he's a terrific player. And like I said, we're all very open.
16:47I think one of the tests he was injured in Australia. I think the first test he had broken a finger so he didn't play, otherwise he had played. But you can look at it as a burden. You can look at it as a burden. You can look at it as a
16:54positively. It could inspire him to do better. You know, at the moment, from what we're looking at,
17:01and may be it in franchise cricket, you can see that he's relishing the role. This is obviously going to be a lot harder. But those are the challenges that we're looking at.
17:08So, you know, I think the first test he was injured in Australia. I think the first test he had broken a finger so he didn't play, otherwise he had played. But you can look at it as a burden. You can look at it positively.
17:18It could inspire him to do better. You know, at the moment, from what we're looking, and may be it in franchise cricket, you can see that he's relishing the role. This is obviously going to be a lot harder.
17:30But those are the challenges you face playing international cricket here. And he's been around now for two or three years in all formats, really.
17:40So, that experience, I'm sure he can fall back on. And there are guys around in the team, the coach is there to help him as well. So, no, I think, I'm sure he's relishing the opportunity.
17:51I mean, who wouldn't want to captain India in test cricket? So, I'm sure he's looking at it positively with chats that I've had. And there will be pressure.
17:59There's no doubt. There won't be any going away from it. But hopefully, that inspires him to do better.
18:05We'll be there.
18:07Bye-bye.
18:11Bye.
18:13Bye.
18:14Bye-bye.
18:15Bye-bye.
18:20Bye-bye.
18:21Bye-bye.
18:25Bye-bye.
18:29Bye-bye.

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