There were a few eyebrows raised when Shubman Gill was announced as India’s new Test captain after Rohit Sharma’s retirement, especially considering he had been briefly dropped during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia earlier this year due to his poor form. However, the 25-year-0ld emphatically announced himself as a worthy captain and talisman of the Indian batting setup as well, leading them to a 2-2 draw in an epic series and himself scoring a record-breaking 754 runs in the series.
Gill is not yet captain in T20Is and ODIs though – Suryakumar Yadav leads the former side while Rohit Sharma remains captain in the 50-over format, despite questions swirling around his place in the team, chiefly due to him simply not playing enough cricket this year. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has said that the players should be clear on who will be leading the team in the long term, even if there are three different captains at the moment.
“I think the message should go out loud and clear to every player – more than the media or the fans – that who the engine of this train is, so that the train reaches a single destination, no matter the speed. Shubmam Gill’s captaincy will get better with time, he’ll learn the art of leadership more, but what he already has done is great,” said Pathan on RevSportz.
‘Indian cricket goes according to a plan’
Gill is widely viewed as being groomed to take over in all three formats. Suryakumar remains one of the best T20 batters in the world but he is 34 years old while Rohit is 38. Pathan feels that India have their long-term in place in terms of captaincy. “(Gill) also has his batting ability in place. He’s been performing outstandingly in one-day cricket and is the vice-captain there. Now with T20 cricket, which he was playing regularly before the last one year.
“The selection committee had a discussion with him, that as soon as you get free from Test cricket, you will get you back. There are a lot of questions in the media, I understand, but Indian cricket goes according to a plan and that’s how it has always been. Selection board, management has the responsibility and I think that going in one direction is important. And this is what it seems like Indian cricket is doing with Shubman Gill right now.”
