17 hours ago
‘Didn't have Kohli like Aura': Shubman Gill's ‘reactive' captaincy under the scanner after Leeds loss
Team India are going through a transition phase in Test cricket after the sudden retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the format and the appointment of Shubman Gill as the new leader in the longest format of the game. The young Indian captain did not have a great start to his international career as his side lost the first Test match against England by five wickets despite requiring over 300 runs on the last day of the match.
Since the loss, there have been comparisons between Gill's captaincy style with that of his predecessors especially Virat Kohli whose famous 'I want them to feel hell' speech from Lords Test has often been recalled to show his captaincy skills.
Many former cricketers have rightly pointed out that Gill is new on the job and should be given a bit of leeway before being judged on his merits. However, former England captain Naseer Hussain has now stated Gill did not have the same on-field 'aura' as some of his predecessors.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Naseer said, "I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You've got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he's taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn't quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there. You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India," said Nasser on Sky Sports.
The former English great went on to comapre Gill's captaincy to 'captaincy by committee', noting that he could notice a lot of captains on the field.
"I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you're still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive," Hussain added.
