25-05-2025
Shubman Gill faces Azharuddin question from BCCI as India pick 'weakest' team for England: 'Miyaan, kaptaan banoge'?
Miyaan, kaptaan banoge? Before Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'definitely not' reply to Danny Morrison in November 2020 when the former Kiwi pacer asked the former India captain if it was his last outing in Chennai Super Kings colours, selection panel chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur's pithy question to Mohammad Azharuddin in January 1990 was the most famous quote involving a future/former India captain.
Azhar had led Hyderabad in just two Ranji Trophy outings, and South Zone in only as many Duleep Trophy games, when he was named India's captain of the 'Team of the '90s' on their tour of New Zealand at the start of 1990. It was a team with a plethora of newcomers, among them the late VB Chandrasekhar and Gurcharan Singh.
Shubman Gill isn't quite as inexperienced when it comes to the leadership stakes as Azhar was when he took charge of the Indian team. Azhar went on to lead the country for nine and a half years – split by a year and a half between 1996 and the start of 1998 when Sachin Tendulkar helmed the team – but Gill isn't as much of a babe in the woods as the Hyderabadi was when he succeeded K Srikkanth as the Indian skipper.
Apart from leading Punjab in the Ranji Trophy and the unimaginatively named India 'A' in the Duleep Trophy, the right-handed top-order batter has been Gujarat Titans' leader in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League. This year, he has led from the front – his 636 runs are only second to opening partner B Sai Sudharsan's 638 as the Titans aspire for a top-two finish – while impressing with his tactical acumen, one of the reasons why he has succeeded Rohit Sharma as India's newest Test captain.
As he embarks on an exciting new phase in an international journey that began in Australia towards the end of 2020, Gill is confronted with one of the toughest challenges a first-time India captain has had to face. Not since Azhar led his 'boys' out to New Zealand has an Indian captain had a more demanding initiation. True, Virat Kohli's first Test as skipper was overseas (in Adelaide in December 2014), but that was in a stand-in capacity for the injured Dhoni.
Not much beats a five-Test series in England (apart, possibly, from a like showdown in Australia), which is exactly what lies ahead of Gill as he kickstarts his reign as India's 37th Test skipper.
Gill spearheads a team that doesn't have a lot of experience when it comes to batting in Test cricket. Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran, the long-standing India 'A' captain, have yet to make their Test debuts. Karun Nair, rewarded for a bushel of runs in domestic cricket, last represented the country in March 2017. Yashasvi Jaiwal's first Test was less than two years back, in July 2023. Only KL Rahul (58 Tests), Gill's deputy Rishabh Pant (43) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (80) among the batters have sizeable experience; Gill, the 25-year-old, has himself played just 32 Tests. To say that he is in charge of a batting group reasonably short on game-time when it comes to the five-day format will be no exaggeration.
Blessed with (comparatively) greater riches, experience and pedigree when it comes to the bowling department where Jasprit Bumrah looms as the difference between the sides, Gill has the unenviable task of rallying his troops against an aggressive, gung-ho England outfit that, under Ben Stokes, is on a mission to redefine the approach to Test cricket. There are suggestions in various quarters that this is the weakest Indian side to tour England since 1932, when CK Nayudu led 11 debutants in the country's inaugural Test at Lord's. Partially true, one might say. Potentially not the weakest side, all told, but possibly one of the more inexperienced batting outfits still reeling from the Test retirements in one fell swoop of Rohit Sharma and Kohli.
Does this batting group, especially, dictate that India will firmly start as underdogs when the series gets underway at Headingley in Leeds on June 20? Perhaps, but it's worth remembering that while many of India's batters might be new to Test cricket, they have impressive numbers in first-class cricket on which they can realistically expect to improve on the pitches in England that have recently been batter-friendly, thanks to the hosts' commitment to 'Bazball' which revolves around scoring briskly, which in turn cries out for batter-friendly surfaces. Under Bumrah's stewardship and with Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja, among others, slotting in as admirable support casts, India's bowling is in capable, seasoned hands. The batting unit, toughened by the demands of IPL cricket, might be less celebrated but is no less accomplished. Weak, you say? Wait and watch, they counter.
