Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri believes that the team management should keep supporting Shubman Gill as captain even if they lose the five-match Test series against England. However, this was Gill’s debut as captain, as he succeeded Rohit Sharma as well. The retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also meant that Gill had extra pressure with a relatively inexperienced team for the series. Following the defeat in the first Test match, Shastri praised Gill for his maturity and asked the team to support him as well.
“He’s matured a lot. The way he handles the media, the way he talks at press conferences, at tosses—he’s matured a lot. Let him be there for three years. Don’t chop and change irrespective of what happens in the series. Stick with him for three years, and I think he will deliver for you,” Shastri told Wisden.
Ravi Shastri also said that Gill has all the components to be successful in the future.
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“I’ll be disappointed if Gill doesn’t go places. Languid, lazy elegance, and he’s got a regal element of being regal out there when he’s batting. If he can learn with exposure and adapt to conditions, I think that’s the one name I can see,” he further added.
Meanwhile, India’s right-arm seamer Prasidh Krishna also shared his thoughts on newly appointed Test skipper Shubman Gill.
Speaking on Gill’s captaincy and leadership skills at the press conference, Krishna said, “I think he did a pretty good job. All of us saw how he rotated the bowlers, made sure everybody had enough breaks, brought in people at the right kind of spells, he saw opportunities and brought in the right kind of bowlers. All of that was great and knowing him, he set a very good atmosphere around. He’s been speaking to all of us, we always go in with a plan and the communication is happening there.”
However, Shubman Gill also joined the elite list of Indians, which includes Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Vijay Hazare and Dilip Vengsarkar to score 100 on Test captaincy debut.
