While the first Test in Leeds did not go to plan for Shubman Gill as a captain, his performance both with the bat and as a leader went a notch up at Edgbaston. Filling in the boots of Virat Kohli at four, Gill’s talent was never in question, but his performances never matched, especially outside India. However, he took responsibility for the captaincy as a duck to the water. Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik draws a comparison between Gill and Kohli.
“Athers, you spoke about Virat Kohli. I met him a few days ago, and this talk about captaincy came up,” said Karthik in response to Michael Atherton. “He said people think ‘, I’m a great Test cricketer. I enjoyed my Test batting, which I did, but the fact is that getting my captaincy was the best thing to happen in my life.’ Why I am saying this is that the same line was used by Shubman Gill,” Karthik said on Sky Sports.
“He said, ‘I used to bat differently, but now that I’ve got captaincy, I almost think this is what my team requires, rather than me wanting to do something individually as a batter.’ I said wow, this is something for which the world of cricket has to take notice,” Karthik recalled the conversation he had with Gill.
“Here is a man who has the appetite, he’s got the skill, he’s got the technique, but now he’s got the mindset as well. I’m the captain, I’m going to lead from the front, lead off the front foot,” Karthik added.
Gill scored 430 runs in the second Test and was Man of the Match. It is his performance that helped India win the Test match alongside Akash Deep’s 10-wicket haul. “I mean, you can’t ask for anything more from a captain. You are 1-0 down in the series, you come out there and you bat like Bradman. 268 (269) and a 161, and you ended up winning the game.
