MUMBAI: India’s young guns have the talent to achieve something special in the upcoming England Test series, provided they back themselves, said AB de Villiers here on Saturday, adding that it’s time for the new generation to step up.
With the 25-year-old Shubman Gill at the helm, India will start a new cycle of the World Test Championship with a five-Test tour of England next month without their seasoned campaigners in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who both announced their retirement recently.
India will also miss the services of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who retired during last year’s tour of Australia, and senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who was not selected for this tour owing to his lack of fitness for the conventional format.
“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.
“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.
