Former India batter Dilip Vengsarkar lauded Shubman Gill for his captaincy as well as his batting in the ongoing series against England, adding that the young India players led by their captain are capable of taking the country forward. Before the series began, there were a lot of concerns about this team which was bereft of the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin on what they could achieve in England.
But the team, under the stewardship of Gill, levelled the series 1-1 in Edgbaston even without the services of their express pacer Jasprit Bumrah who was not included in the 2nd test team for workload management.
“He did very well as a captain, as a batsman, it was very important that he scored runs so that he can call the shots and he can lead from the front, which is very important and he has done that,” Vengsarkar told the media.
“He is an experienced player. He is a world-class batsman and he that showed in England. Because of the English conditions, everybody was thinking what will happen to the Indian team in the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But these young players have shown that they are capable of doing it and I am very proud of them,” he said during the launch of Mumbai’s Cricketing season 2025-26.
With his tally of 505 runs in the two Tests this series, Gill is on course to break the record for all-time highest run-tally by any batter in Test history set by Sir Donald Bradman who scored 974 runs in the 1930 Ashes.
“Well, he is in great form and he is an outstanding batsman. I hope he does that. I don’t know whether he will do it, but I am sure that he has got an opportunity. He is in great form and he should do it, that’s what I feel,” he said.
“But then, what is important is not (get into chasing) personal milestone. Because we are obsessed with personal milestone, which is wrong. The important (point) is to win matches for our country. That is what matters. And the impact of innings or a spell is what matters in the ultimate analysis,” he added.