‘It comes every year…’: Shubman Gill picks between winning Test series abroad and lifting an IPL trophy

The cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) comes every year. But not everyone gets a chance to captain India in Tests outside of home, and even though those who get to live this honour might not have more than one or two series under their belts. The newly-appointed Indian captain, Shubman Gill, feels the same ahead of leading his team out for the first Test between England and India starting Friday (Jun 20) at Headingley in Leeds. When asked about prioritising between winning an IPL trophy and lifting one for India in Tests abroad, he didn’t take more than a second to answer.

Gill has won an IPL trophy with Gujarat Titans in its maiden appearance (in 2022) but not as a captain. Besides leading GT in the concluded IPL 2025, where his team finished inside the top four but failed to advance through, Gill led India in five T20Is against Zimbabwe last year, winning the series 4-1. With the marquee England series being his first as a full-fledged captain (in Tests), Gill has a whole new world to explore and excel in.

Addressing the media in the pre-game presser, Gill picked one of the two, saying, "Definitely the Test series, in my opinion. You don't get many opportunities as a captain to be able to come to England, maybe two; if you are the best of your generation, maybe three.

“And IPL comes every year, and you get to have a crack at it every year. So in my opinion, winning a Test series in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa is bigger,” he continued.

Setting goals

With no Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma around, the onus would fall on three experienced batters, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and captain Gill himself, to bail the team out in challenging conditions and situations. Without burdening himself much on the captaincy and batting front, Gill said,

"Honestly, when I want to go out there and bat, I just want to play as a batsman, not really want to think that I'm the captain of the team, because I think that sometimes puts too much pressure on you. Whenever I'm going out there, I want to play as a batsman and want to want to dominate the opposition and be the best batsman in the series, and that's what I'm trying to look at."