Former India player Mohammad Kaif applauded Shubman Gill after he led the Indian team against England in the first Test in Leeds. While India lost the Test, Kaif was still impressed with the way Gill led the team and scored runs with the bat as well. He liked the bowling rotations done by Gill, but he felt that only Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja managed to make an impact with the ball. He also said Gill was a “helpless captain” in the context of the game as well.

“As a young captain, Gill did brilliantly by giving Bumrah 4-4 overs and rotating him well. He led better than Ben Stokes. Well done, thumbs up,” said Kaif in a video on his YouTube channel.

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In the first innings of India’s bowling, Jasprit Bumrah registered the figures of 5 for 83 on a surface that had no help for the bowlers as well. Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj too shared five wickets among them but gave away runs at economies of 6.40 and 4.50 as well.

“Helpless captain because he was playing with one and a half bowlers. One is Bumrah, and the remaining half is Jadeja. There was no support from Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, or Shardul Thakur. You can’t win the Test match with 1.5 bowlers. He did captaincy very well and looked good to me. He used his resources well,” said Mohammad Kaif.

“I will praise him a lot because it was a big test for him in this series. It was important for him to score in England. Everyone said he doesn’t know how to play in England, (you) made him captain, but hasn’t scored runs. But he passed the Test with the bat, scored a century, excellent batting. Apart from captaincy, he showed he can deliver with the bat,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.