11 hours ago
Taken Over From Kohli, Rohit Sharma He Didnt Quite Have That On Field Aura: Nasser Hussain Shares His Verdict On Shubman Gills Captaincy
Former English cricketer turned commentator Nasser Hussain shared his verdict on India's newly appointed test captain Shubman Gill's captaincy after India was defeated by five wickets against The Three lions at first test of the five match test series. England successfully chased a target of 371 in the fourth innings at Headingley, leeds powered by Ben Duckett's 149 and Joe Root's unbeaten 53. Hussain while agreeing to India's former head coach Ravi Shastri stated that Gill lacked the aura of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharm and looked lackluster on the field. Shubman took the baton from Rohit Sharma who called it quits in this format, before Sharma India was led by Virat Kohli in this format.
"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. 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," he said.
Nasser also called out the captain and the seniors players in the team for not talking to Ravindra Jadeja who was attacked by English batters in the fourth innings with reverse sweeps which the Indian team had no answers for. The commentator also criticized Jadeja for not exploiting the rough made on the fifth day pitch.
"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, you do know the rough is out there. Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher are up there, going, show us where that ball is pitching, and it was pitching nowhere near the rough. Ravi was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough. I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, Can we go a little bit wider. But Ravi's right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn't control," he added.
The second test between the two teams will be played from July 2nd at Edgbaston, Birmingham. India would like to fix their mistakes and level the series going forward. Shubman who became the 37th Test captain of India joined the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and KL rahul as the Indian captains to lose their first test as captain.
