‘He has to establish as a batter…’: Former India head coach’s take on Shubman Gill’s captaincy

Anil Kumble has raised concerns regarding Shubman Gill’s appointment as India’s Test captain. He believes the young player faces a significant challenge, as he has yet to establish himself as a batter in India’s overseas Test matches.

Although Gill has appeared in all 32 Tests for India and is the second-youngest captain after Sachin Tendulkar, at 25 years old, he remains the least experienced.

Kumble’s hoped Jasprit Bumrah would succeed Rohit Sharma as India’s Test captain, as that was expected for a long time. Bumrah served as India’s vice-captain during the Test series in Australia and even led the team in Perth and Sydney when Rohit was unavailable. However, a back injury disrupted those plans for India’s lead pacer. With the future of Indian cricket in mind, the BCCI and selectors entrusted Gill with the captaincy, hoping he would be the answer to their challenges.

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However, according to Anil Kumble, Gill’s batting a major concern on the overseas ground as he has just scored 649 runs at an average of 29.50 in 13 Test matches, which includes a century against Bangladesh. Kumble suggested to the chairman of selectors and his former India teammate Ajit Agarkar that Gill needs to focus on his batting before expectations rise around his captaincy.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge. Initially, I thought Jasprit Bumrah would have been the automatic choice, but they must have a reason there. They would have probably spoken to him, and maybe Jasprit is now looking at taking a break between matches. He felt that it was better not to be the captain. But the ideal choice would have been Jasprit.” the former India spinner said on ESPNCricinfo

“Now that the selectors have taken a call on Shubman, they’ll have to stick with him for a while. Because he needs that kind of leeway as well. First, he has to establish as a batter because even in Australia, he didn’t play all matches,” said Kumble.

Shubman Gill has captaincy experience, having led the Gujarat Titans for two seasons finishing 8th last year and topping the table this season. Earlier this year, he captained Punjab in a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka. Additionally, he has led four other First-Class games, including three Duleep Trophy matches and India A in 2019. Gill also captained India in a series against Zimbabwe, guiding the team to a 4-1 victory.

“As a captain, he has certainly shown signs. Of course, it’s a very different format. He has a calm head. He’s done all the right things for GT in the last couple of seasons as a captain. So as a player, it hasn’t really affected him at least in the white-ball formats.” Kumble added

“And to expect that to happen in Test matches as well there won’t be any issues with his batting just because he is captain… it’s going to be a different team without the big boys Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and Ashwin as well. The Indian team is going to look very different,” Kumble concluded