 "Shubman Gill collected his maiden victory as Test captain by leading India to a thumping 336-run victory over England at Edgbaston. AP")
Shubman Gill’s growth as a leader in his maiden series as India Test captain can be ascertained from Nasser Hussain’s comments, with the former England skipper highly critical of him after the five-wicket defeat in Leeds and making a U-turn after India’s commanding 336-run triumph in Birmingham .
Gill led Team India from the front with scores of 269 and 161, amassing a record 430 runs in the match as India posted more than 1,000 runs in the second Test at Edgbaston, and leveled the five-Test series 1-1 by bundling England out for 271 after setting them a mammoth 608 to win.
While Hussain criticised Gill for lacking the aura of the legendary Virat Kohli, one of the most successful Test leaders who had retired from the format in May, and for constantly depending on inputs from vice-captain Rishabh Pant and senior teammate KL Rahul.
Following India’s commanding victory on Sunday, Hussain maintained that while Gill wasn’t going to be a ‘Kohli-type character’, he certainly was “more visible” in the second Test.
“I do think that was important. I do think he was more visible. It’s very easy when you lose, you sort of blame the captain and say, Oh, he went missing. And when you win, you go, oh, he’s a great captain,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“But I do think just watching from up above, which we often do in a commentary box, at the Headingly game, there was a lot of input from a lot of people, and it was like, who’s in charge? You look down today, and there was a, he was in charge, and the camera often went in him, and he was moving fielders around. He still needs help from Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul or whatever, but he looked in charge.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“He’s always going to be calm and composed. You just listened to that interview. He’s got a very low heartbeat. So he’s not going to be a Kohli-type character. He’s got a low heartbeat, but that can help. Look at this crowd here today. Look at all of India watching on. You may need someone just to calm the team,” he added.
Hussain lauds Gill’s bold call involving Akash
The Chennai-born former England top-order batter further praised Gill for his bold decision to have Akash Deep bowl from a different end despite having collected a couple of wickets from the other side of the ground on the previous day.
Akash ended up running through the remainder of the English batting order and finished with his maiden five-wicket haul (6/99) as well as a 10-wicket match-haul to bowl India to victory.
“He did some subtle things that we wouldn’t do. Akash Deep bowled beautifully this end. This morning we thought he was going to start this end. He started him up at the end, and it worked. So there were tactical things that he did in the game as well that really worked,” Hussain added.
India and England travel to London, where they face each other in the third of five Test at Lord’s starting Thursday with the series currently level at 1-1.