Shubman Gill starts his Test captaincy by leading India in a daunting five-match tour of England. Batting great and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said that he is happy with ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for ruling himself out of the race for the post due to his recurring back injury.
Gill himself has hardly ever played in England – the 25-year-old has played just three Tests in which scored just 88 runs at an average of 14.66. However, Gill’s appointment after Rohit Sharma’s retirement still didn’t come as a surprise to most as he had long been earmarked as the next long-term Test captain for India. Bumrah was seen as the other frontrunner for the post.
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“The fact that that a total team-man and a selfless-cricketer named Jasprit Bumrah informed the selectors that since he may not be able to play all Tests because of his back issue, the selectors could zero in at Shubman Gill as the new India captain, made the selection easier. Bumrah will be at hand for Gill to lean on to and will also lead the bowling group as they try and plot the English batters’ dismissals,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
Gavaskar also said he is relieved that the time has gone when zones that a player belonged to would lobby with selectors when it came time to appoint a new India captain. “Thankfully, there was no intrigue about the appointment this time. Fortunately, that time is long gone, where there were pulls and pressures from one zone and the other and the last thing on the minds of these string pullers was what was good for Indian cricket,” said Gavaskar.
Gill said that being appointed as India’s Test captain is the “ultimate honour”. He has played under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and shared a dressing room with Ravichandran Ashwin, all three of whom announced their retirements this year. “Rohit bhai was someone who was very calm and tactically always very present. He’s very communicative to the players, what he wants from the players and so these are the qualities that I learned from him,” said Gill in a video inteview on the BCCI’s website.
“Guys like Rohit bhai, Virat bhai and Ashwin bhai, they have given us a blueprint on how to tour away from home and win matches and series. Yes, it’s one thing to be able to deliver and execute but because we have that blueprint, we know how to tour away from home and win matches and series,” Gill said.