Indians know the former English county cricketer Alan Wilkins as the suave and erudite pundit from the early days of cricket broadcasting. What’s lesser known is how he played a role in facilitating for the England experience for Shubman Gill that came in handy on this tour.
A couple of years back, as president of Glamorgan County, he played a big role in signing up Shubman as their overseas player. It is learnt that Shubman’s county mates would give him inputs about playing conditions at various Test venues where India was to play and also help to choose which of his horses he should unbolt at which course.
Wilkins, 70, points to Glamorgan’s rather lesser-known history with Indian captains. “Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri, Shubman Gill … three Indian captains have been associated with the county. Ravi Shastri has gone down in folklore, we loved having Sourav, and now Shubman has just been handed the baton,” he tells The Indian Express.
Congratulations to former Glamorgan player Shubman Gill on being appointed India’s Test captain 🇮🇳
Gill joined Glamorgan in 2022 and scored 244 runs in 3 First-Class matches for the Club, averaging 61 with the bat 👏#OhGlammyGlammy pic.twitter.com/GGLt0uOuBZ
— Glamorgan Cricket 🏆 (@GlamCricket) May 24, 2025
Having watched Indian cricket closely, Wilkins understands the importance of Shubman to India and his place in the pantheon of Indian batting greats. “I think at times India’s batting has looked a little light given that you’ve taken two huge heavyweights like (Rohit) Sharma and (Virat) Kohli out of the lineup. So you’ve got Rishabh Pant batting at five, whereas in the halcyon years that I covered Indian cricket, you had VVS Laxman batting at six. So if you have to think about that batting lineup, that was Sachin (Tendulkar), Ganguly, (Rahul) Dravid and Laxman at six. Shubman’s runs in this series have come at the right time,” he says. “But in terms of the transition, I don’t know how much better it could have gone, to be honest. I think it’s been quite seamless.”
Wilkins has fond memories of Shubman at Glamorgan. “Matthew Maynard, former England player, was the Glamorgan coach when Shubman played. Matthew is a good friend of many years, he told me that Shubman was fantastic in the dressing room. He is very easy-going and has a nice sense of humour. And the Glamorgan boys really enjoyed his company in the dressing room … And I think he enjoyed it too. I saw him a couple of times and he would give thumbs up and a big smile,” he says.
Having seen Tendulkar and Kohli’s stardom, Wilkins knows what a cricketing superstar has to go through. “I think the scrutiny is on Shubman now because of the weight of runs that he has scored. He is the main billing. As an Indian cricketer, he stands out from the crowd. Everyone, every camera, every phone is pointing at him. But he is calm, which stands him in good stead. In the mad landscape of modern cricket, there’s so much scrutiny, and I think he’s weathered the storm of scrutiny.”
Wilkins says Glamorgan has its doors open for Shubman, and they would be delighted to welcome him back to Wales.
