England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler, who played under Gill’s leadership during the 2025 IPL season with Gujarat Titans, believes the 24-year-old is set to usher in a fresh chapter — one that combines the best of his two predecessors.
File Photo: IANS
As India prepares to face England in a much-anticipated five-Test series starting June 20 in Leeds, the spotlight is firmly on Shubman Gill, India’s new Test captain and the heir to a storied legacy. Already dubbed the ‘Prince’ of Indian cricket, Gill now takes on the mantle in a role once defined by legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, with expectations running sky-high.
England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler, who played under Gill’s leadership during the 2025 IPL season with Gujarat Titans, believes the 24-year-old is set to usher in a fresh chapter — one that combines the best of his two predecessors.
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“He’s a really impressive player and an impressive young man,” Buttler said on his new podcast For the Love of Cricket with Stuart Broad.
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“He’s pretty calm and measured when he speaks, but [it’s] interesting, I feel like on the field he’s got a bit of fight about him; a bit of intensity, quite passionate. I think he’ll be a mix of Kohli and Rohit.”
Reflecting on the influence of India’s past captains, Buttler added: “Kohli [was] that sort of real aggressive [character], really transformed the Indian team, in your face, up for the contest. Rohit [was] a bit on the other side, a bit more laid back, very cool, calm, collected customer, but with that sort of fight. I feel like, from my time knowing Shubman so far, he’ll be a bit in the middle. He’s obviously learned from those two guys… but he’ll be very much his own man.”
Buttler, who has spent more time in India than most of his England teammates, acknowledged the sheer magnitude of what Gill is stepping into, not just as a player, but as a national figure. “I don’t think we can quite understand the level of interest and the stardom that these guys have. You see it around the IPL, you’re aware of it, but actually living that yourself… I think they say the Indian Test captain is like the third or fourth-most influential person in India, behind the Prime Minister etc. — so you really are put up on that pedestal.”
While Gill’s credentials as a batter are already well established, Buttler highlighted a key area of focus for the young captain, balancing leadership with his own game.
“He talked about compartmentalising batting and captaining; so when he’s batting he just wants to be a batter, and then he will try and work on his captaincy and try and separate the two roles,” he said.
“When you’re doing such a big job as being captain of the Indian cricket team, he’ll have to try and do that well and have some good people supporting him.”
As Gill also prepares to fill India’s iconic No. 4 spot in the batting lineup, once occupied by Kohli and Tendulkar, the weight of legacy adds another layer to an already momentous assignment.
“It’s going to be a huge job for him,” Buttler said, adding, “He’s obviously captained two seasons of IPL cricket, which is a big, pressurised job and he’s sort of the prince. Kohli is the king, Shubman is the prince: that’s the narrative that they spin out there, and I feel that he’s the coming man… Stepping into that No. 4, it’s big shoes, isn’t it? Coming behind Virat, and Sachin Tendulkar before that as well. That’s obviously a huge role.”
With India looking for their first Test series win on English soil for the first time since 2007, the upcoming series, that also marks the start of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle from 2025-27, the stage is set for Shubman to begin his reign, carrying with him the fire of Kohli and the poise of Rohit, as Indian Test cricket enters a new era.
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