There were questions raised about Shubman Gill when he took over the leadership from Rohit Sharma. Not only just about his captaincy, but his record in England was quite average with the bat. However, two games into the series, the entire narrative has changed as the young Indian skipper scored three centuries from four innings and also after losing the first Test India came back in emphatic fashion at Edgbaston.
“There have been greats who have gone to England, and they have not mustered up those numbers in a whole series. When I say whole series, I mean eight or 10 innings, and Shubman Gill has done it in just four innings. In just four innings, he has gone to 585 runs, and in one game, he has gone to 430 runs,” said former Indian pacer Varun Aaron speaking on the Follow the Blues.
“That just shows the kind of zone he is in, and it reflects in the way he talks to the press, and it reflects in the way he carries himself. He is just so sure, and I love the quiet confidence he has. It’s not brash, it’s not out there, you just know there is something within him, and there is a fire that burns so bright that he is going to take Indian Test cricket to the next level,” he added.
Since the transition has begun, there have been questions raised about the style of captaincy Gill will stick to. While Virat Kohli was an attacking skipper, Rohit Sharma was more of a pragmatic captain. Speaking on Gill’s style, Aaron observed, “The biggest takeaway I have is that he is definitely a captain who backs his players. Just a small nugget of him praising Prasidh Krishna towards the end and saying that even Prasidh tried really hard, didn’t get the results, but we thought he bowled really well, it just shows he has every player’s back,” he replied.
“Captains can very easily throw a player under the bus, but he is not one of those captains. He sticks out for his players. Even on the field, he is able to marshal his bowlers really well. Also, he has got some very good support in KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant,” Aaron observed.