India, June 20 -- Team India will usher in a new era in Test cricket when it takes the field against England on Friday at Headingley, with 25-year-old Shubman Gill leading the side for the first time in the longest format. The five-match series marks a definitive generational shift, coming in the immediate aftermath of red-ball retirements from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the last of the batting giants from the previous era. While the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had already faded from the squad in recent years, Rohit and Kohli's exit firmly stamps the transition.

But while the previous generation may have vacated the field, it hasn't disappeared entirely from the scene. Pujara, one of India's most resolute red-ball ba...