Shubman Gill Makes History as India’s 37th Test Captain
May 26, 2025 - The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) on May 24 gave the leadership of the Indian Test team to Shubman Gill. At 25 years old, Shubman Gill has become the 37th player to captain the Indian Test team. He will lead the team for the first time on the England tour.
On May 7, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket. After the 38-year-old skipper’s retirement, many wondered who would take over as captain. Gill was the top choice and the selectors finally approved his name.
Now, fans are curious about the 36 other players who have led Team India in the longest format of cricket.
🏏 List of Indian Test Captains (1932–2025)
| No. | Captain | Tenure | Matches | Wins | Losses | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CK Naidu | 1932–34 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | Maharajkumar of Vijayanagaram | 1936 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi | 1946 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Lala Amarnath | 1947–52 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| 5 | Vijay Hazare | 1951–53 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 6 | Vinoo Mankad | 1955–59 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | Ghulam Ahmed | 1955–59 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | Polly Umrigar | 1955–58 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Hemu Adhikari | 1959 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Dutta Gaekwad | 1959 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | Pankaj Roy | 1959 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Gulabrai Ramchand | 1959–60 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 | Nari Contractor | 1960–62 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 14 | Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi | 1962–75 | 40 | 9 | 19 | 12 |
| 15 | Chandu Borde | 1967 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | Ajit Wadekar | 1971–74 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 | Srinivas Venkataraghavan | 1974–79 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 | Sunil Gavaskar | 1976–85 | 47 | 9 | 8 | 30 |
| 19 | Bishan Singh Bedi | 1976–78 | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 |
| 20 | Gundappa Vishwanath | 1980 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | Kapil Dev | 1983–87 | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 |
| 22 | Dilip Vengsarkar | 1987–89 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 23 | Ravi Shastri | 1988 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Krishnamachari Srikkanth | 1989 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 25 | Mohammad Azharuddin | 1990–99 | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 |
| 26 | Sachin Tendulkar | 1996–2000 | 25 | 4 | 9 | 12 |
| 27 | Sourav Ganguly | 2000–05 | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 |
| 28 | Rahul Dravid | 2003–07 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 |
| 29 | Virender Sehwag | 2005–12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | Anil Kumble | 2007–08 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 31 | MS Dhoni | 2008–14 | 60 | 27 | 18 | 15 |
| 32 | Virat Kohli | 2014–22 | 68 | 40 | 17 | 11 |
| 33 | Ajinkya Rahane | 2017–21 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 34 | KL Rahul | 2022 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 35 | Rohit Sharma | 2022–24 | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
| 36 | Jasprit Bumrah | 2022–25 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 37 | Shubman Gill | 2025–Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First Indian Test Captain and First Win
CK Naidu was the first captain of India in Test cricket. He led the team in four matches but did not win any. Lala Amarnath was the first Indian captain to win a Test match. Under his leadership, India defeated Pakistan by an innings and 70 runs in Delhi from October 16-18, 1952. Later, India won by 10 wickets at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai from November 13-16, 1952.
Virat Kohli’s Record as Captain
Virat Kohli captained India in 68 Test matches, the most by any Indian captain. Under his leadership, India won a record 40 Tests.
Shubman Gill’s Test Performance
Gill made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne on December 26, 2020. Since then, he has played 32 Test matches and scored 1893 runs. He has made five centuries and seven half-centuries so far.