Star India batter Shubman Gill is all set to lead India in the Test. He has been appointed Test captain following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the longer format as well. Having witnessed Gill’s potential first time as the India U19 head coach on tour of England in 2017, former India cricketer WV Raman believes that this leadership will allow him to excel in both his roles as batter and captain as well.
“He’s come a long way since we spent some time in England when he was a part of the Under-19 side. What he’s done well is to try and identify the areas he needs to improve and he’s done that. Even starting with conversing in English, he’s made leaps and bounds in terms of improving the areas that he needed to As far as Gill is concerned, I think he’s aware of the fact that he will not be just a stop-gap option,” said WV Raman to IANS in an exclusive interaction organised by Sony Sports Network.
“He knows that the selectors will back him for a while. So, that should give him a lot of confidence, even as a batter, because if he was not the captain, maybe he might be feeling a little bit insecure and he might think that the axe is definitely hanging above his head. But now that he’s made the captain, I think he doesn’t need to even have those kinds of thoughts, which will obviously help him to get runs,” he added.
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With Team India’s batting order to be decided after the intra-squad game ends, it needs to be seen whether Gill would bat at three or four as well. Raman also wants Gill to wait for the ball to come to him and then play his shots in England’s swinging conditions as well.
“But as far as the technical part of things are concerned, he needs to try and wait for the ball to come on to him, rather than look to try and play on the up as he does normally on these tracks here in the subcontinent, which is the way he’s used to batting before leading up to this series in the IPL,” he further added.
Apart from Gill, vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant needs to play a key role in the series against England as well.
“He’s got to back himself and tell himself that he’s played some out-of-this-world innings in Test cricket to win matches for India, or to perhaps possibly even secure a draw for India abroad. So, that is what he must bank on. These things obviously will come into play when you’re on a tough tour – the things that X, Y has done in the past. That’s where they’ll draw the inspiration from. It’s all a matter of Rishabh Pant having a couple of good hours in the first Test, and the entire landscape will change,” added Raman.
“I think there is no pressure on this particular Indian team for the simple reason that everybody realises that this team is going through transition. The fact that everybody is already looking at being patient with them is a big plus for them, and I think that’s the big plus for this current Indian side. Under a new captain and a new vice-captain with a lot of slots up for grabs is a situation where everybody realises that there will be a bit of pressure on them. But at the same time, it’s a big opportunity for a lot of youngsters and also for people like Karun Nair to try and cement their place, because if they end up performing in a key series like this, it will stand them in good stead,” concluded WV Raman.
