‘Too early to judge his Test captaincy…’: GT coach shares his doubt over Shubman Gill being given India’s Test captaincy

Ashish shares doubt over Gill being India's Test captain

Indian Premier league (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) assistant coach Ashish Kapoor believes that Shubman Gill is a cricketer who works with his mind on the field, but it is difficult to guess whether he could show the same level of success which he shows in the T20 format in case he is made the Test captain of the Indian team.

Shubman Gill, who has led GT to the playoffs this season, is being taken as one of the top contenders who can be the potential successor to Rohit Sharma in the red-ball format after the ‘Hitman’ announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.

“If you see Shubman as a batsman, or basically as a cricketer, whether he’s a good thinker or not, I think he’s a good thinker of his own game,” Kapoor said at the post-match press conference on Sunday night.

“I’ve seen him since the Under-16 days. In fact, I’ve done two camps with him at the NCA. Even back then, he used his brain a lot more than many others his age. And that’s a key quality for a captain — to not just think for yourself but for the ten other players as well, and plan how to win matches,” he added.

When asked about how Shubman Gill might act as the red-ball captain if he is handed the opportunity, Kapoor stated that it would not be easy to make any judgement on his leadership capabilities considering his limited experience.

“We’re watching him lead in T20 cricket, but when Dhoni was named captain for the World Cup (in 2007), he hadn’t captained anywhere. Nobody knew back then that he’d go on to become one of the world’s best captains. If you had asked someone at that time — even Dhoni himself — what they thought of his captaincy, there would’ve been no answer. You have to observe a player over a period of time before making any judgment. Shubman hasn’t even started yet, so it’s very difficult to say.” said the former India spinner.

Speaking about their last clash in IPL, Gujarat Titans qualified for the IPL Playoffs with a commanding 10-wicket win over Delhi Capitals here on Sunday.

Opener Sai Sudharsan (108 not out off 61 balls) and skipper Shubman Gill (93 not out off 53 deliveries) chased down the 200-run target with six balls to spare.

Earlier, invited to bat, opener KL Rahul displayed great intent on a slow and grippy wicket to score his fifth IPL century as Delhi Capitals scored 199 for 3.

(Written with inputs from PTI)