Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has opined on Rishabh Pant’s appointment as Shubman Gill’s deputy in the Test team ahead of the England series. Pant enters the leadership group, being one of the most experienced players in the team now after the recent retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin.

“I like him being vice-captain. I think he’ll be very important for Shubman Gill. I think they have got to work together. I think he’s very confident with his own game at the moment, and vice-captaincy will help that self-belief as well. If all goes according to the plan and they play the cricket that they want to play, they could be there for a long time,” Clarke said in an interview with RevSportz.

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One of the major challenges that Shubman Gill will have to tackle during the England series is managing the leadership role as well as getting back to good rhythm from his poor form. His struggles in red-ball cricket overseas have become the talk of the town.

“Shubman Gill, I think, tactically, was very good in the IPL. First and foremost, he will want to make runs because that’s a way to earn respect from the teammates. Captaincy is something on top of that. I think it’s going to be a challenge for anyone who is captaining five Test matches in England because it’s tough cricket. But I think Shubman can do it,” Clarke said.

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“I think the one thing with Shreyas Iyer that has impressed me … the last game [Qualifier 2] against Mumbai Indians, I was on commentary and I made it very clear, if Shreyas Iyer wants to play for India, wants to be spoken about like all these great players, then this is the moment. He has to stand up in that semi-final [of sorts], and he did. Now If Shreyas continues to perform like this, I don’t think you can continue to not select him. All he can do is score runs as a batsman, stand up on the biggest stage and then the selectors will have to pick him,” Michael Clarke concluded.