India’s new Test skipper Shubman Gill has come under the scanner after a demoralising defeat in the first Test at Headingley in Leeds, where the home side defeated them by five wickets after chasing a record total on day five. The Indian bowling looked listless for the most part and struggled to control the proceedings despite the presence of top-ranked Test bowler, Jasprit Bumrah.
Reflecting on Gill and his presence as a skipper in the first Test, former England skipper Nasser Hussain felt that the youngster lacked the aura on the field that was exuded by former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
“I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You’ve got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he’s taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn’t quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
Hussain further added that it felt like there were too many seniors involved in decision-making along with Gill, which was representative of the Indian team’s transition period. That led to Gill being more “reactive than proactive.”
“You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India. I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, and there were a lot of captains,” Hussain said.
“It was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you’re still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive.”
Hussain also mentioned that Gill should have had a word with Ravindra Jadeja, as the spinner failed to target the rough, which was tailor-made for him. As a result, he was taken apart by Player of the match Ben Duckett, who swept him with ease.
“A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, ‘you do know the rough is out there’. Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher are up there, going, show us where that ball is pitching, and it was pitching nowhere near the rough,” the former England captain added.
“Ravi was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough. I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, Can we go a little bit wider. But Ravi’s right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn’t control.”
The second Test in Headingley will begin on July 2 in Edgbaston.
