Shubman Gill, who has been newly appointed as the captain of the India Test side, will face England in his first assignment at English soil. Gill took the baton from Rohit Sharma who bid farewell to the whites recently. Along with Rohit, India’s most successful batter in the current team- Virat Kohli has also announced his retirement. After the greats went away, the onus and the responsibility now lies on Gill’s shoulder and he would like to make the most of it.
Ahead of the start of the Test series against England, Gill in an interview with Dinesh Karthik on Sky Sports, hailed Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
“Rohit Sharma is very aggressive as a captain in terms of his strategy. He is someone who is very clear in his communication with players about what he expects from them, both during and after a series. The kind of atmosphere Rohit Bhai maintains, even if Rohit Bhai abuses you, you won’t take it to heart; that’s his personality. He thinks about the team and the team’s well-being,” Shubman said.
Shubman Gill also shared thoughts on Virat Kohli’s leadership and how the right hand batter has been so successful and dominating.
“When I used to play under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, his activeness on the field in Test matches, his ideas and his thinking were something I really liked and learned from him. He is very active; if one plan doesn’t work, he has another plan ready. He communicates well with the bowlers,” Gill said.
Gill also broke the typical notion about Rohit’s captaincy being calm and smooth instead he believes that Sharma was always an aggressive leader.
“Rohit Bhai (Rohit Sharma) is an aggressive captain. He is tactically an aggressive captain. He is someone who is very clear in his communication, before the series, during the matches and after the series,” he stated.
India is scheduled to play a five-match Test series against England, starting from June 20 at Headingley. Indian team is currently playing an intra squad game against India A. Sarfaraz Khan scored a century in the game. While all eyes will be on Gill, Indian openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the key if India wants to win a series in England after 18 years.
