AB de Villiers speaks about how Young Indian team is capable of achieving special heights in England tour

Former South African great AB de Villiers believes that India’s young players have the talent to achieve something special during the upcoming five-match Test series against England, only in case if they back themselves.

With the 25-year-old Shubman Gill being named as the new Test captain, India is going to begin their new cycle of the World Test Championship with a five-match tour, set to begin June 20. The Indian team is expected to witness a new era with this tour as young players have been added following the retirement of veteran players Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

“Yes, it’s time for the younger guys to step up… Shubman Gill taking on the responsibility,” de Villiers told the media on the sidelines of a NGO Project Mumbai event here.

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“There’s lots of talent in India and largely credit to the IPL for that, (it is) really giving great exposure to some of the youngsters at a very early age. We saw Vaibhav Suryavanshi this year (and) many other youngsters, they come in their first year and they look very mature and ready to play cricket and it’s a great platform for Indian cricket,” he said.

The former South African skipper also stated how the England tour is going to be a tough series for a young Indian team, but if the players keep believing in themselves, the positive mentality will help in bringing out desired results.

“They’ve got to take some responsibility on in England, it’ll be a tough test, but they have all the talent in the world and if they believe, maybe they can achieve something special,” he said.

The Indian squad for the England tour was announced on May 24, where Shubman Gill was named the captain of the team, along with Rishabh Pant being named his deputy. The India vs England five-match Test series will begin June 20, and will mark the beginning of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle for both the teams.

India’s squad for England tour:
Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC/wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.