 "Shubman Gill explained his captaincy and other major decisions from West Indies series in the post-game interview. Image: PTI")
Shubman Gill’s post-match presentation ceremony on Tuesday turned into a deep dive session into his young captaincy tenure and how he makes his decisions as the Test captain, and now also the ODI skipper, explained enforcing the follow-on against West Indies in the second Test, not giving bowling opportunities to Nitish Kumar Reddy and plans for the Australia series.
The 26-year-old Gill on Tuesday secured his first Test series win as a captain as India won the second match at Delhi by seven wickets and clinched the series 2-0. He began his tenure with an impressive 2-2 draw in England, where his temperament stood out and his batting was class apart.
Gill explains major captaincy decisions, plans for Australia
Against the West Indies, he made a fifty and a hundred in two Tests as India remain at the third spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-2027 Points Table with a 61.90 percentage of points won.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Gill said that he is still getting used to captaining India and managing the players, but it’s a great honour for him.
“It’s a really big honour (to lead India), I’m kind of getting used to it. Managing all the players, leading this team is a great honour,” Gill said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It’s about taking the right options in the given situation. I try to make the most probable decision in the given situation that we are in that game. And sometimes you have to take a bold decision, depending on which player can get you certain runs or can get you those wickets.”
Gill explains decision to enforce the follow-on vs West Indies
The Punjab cricketer also clarified that India decided to enforce the follow-on on the West Indies as they wanted to have enough time to bowl them rather than batting in the third innings of the Test and relying on fate.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“We were around 300 runs ahead. We thought even if we scored like 500 runs and we have to get 6 or 7 wickets on day 5, it could be a tough day for us. So, that was the thought process.”
Why did Nitish Reddy play but not bowl?
Nitish Reddy not bowling a single over in the Delhi Test has attracted a lot of criticism, with former opener Aakash Chopra questioning why India included the all-rounder in the team when they don’t need him to bowl. But Gill explained that Reddy was included to earn more experience and not to make him just an overseas expert, which can backfire in crunch situations.
“He didn’t really get to bowl in this match. We don’t want players to only play matches overseas. That puts a lot of pressure on the players. We want to groom certain players that we think can help us win matches overseas because that’s been a challenge for us.”
How Gill separates batting from captaincy
Many cricketers over the years have fallen into the trap of failing to separate their playing role from captaincy, but that has not been the case with Gill. The Gujarat Titans captain said that he has mentally tuned himself in a way that when he is batting, he is only focussed on the job and not worrying as a captain.
“When I’m going out there to bat, batting is something that I’ve been doing since I was 3 or 4 years old. So, when I want to go out there, I just want to make decisions as a batsman. The one thing that you always strive for is how can you make your team win a match. And as a batsman, when I’m going out there, that’s the only thought that I have.”
Gill on the Australia series
The three-match ODI series vs Australia that starts on 19 October Down Under would be Gill’s first as India captain, having replaced Rohit Sharma in the role recently. He, however, has decided to keep his cards close to his chest for now as far as the strategy for the series is concerned.
“It’s a long flight, maybe we can plan on the flight,” Gill signed off.