"Didn't Have Virat Kohli's Aura": 'Reactive' Shubman Gill Given Captaincy Reality Check
India faced a shocking five-wicket defeat against England in the first Test of the five-match series on Tuesday in Leeds.
India faced a shocking five-wicket defeat against England in the first Test of the five-match series on Tuesday in Leeds. Chasing a target of 371, England did not face much hiccups as Ben Duckett smashed 149 runs and helped the hosts take 1-0 lead in the series. It was a horrific outing for India as despite scoring five individual centuries in the match, Shubman Gill and co ended up on the losing side. India's new era in Test cricket, under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, began on a forgettable note as former England skipper and Ravi Shastri brought out some issues in the young skipper's leadership.
Speaking on Sky Sports with Ravi Shastri, Nasser pointed out that Gill lacked the on-field aura like Virat Kohli.
"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," said Nasser on Sky Sports.
"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 added.
Nasser further stated that Ravi Shastri was constantly slamming all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for not bowling on the rough patch during Day 5 and Gill, as a captain, should have spoken to him about the conditions.
"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," said Nasser.
"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.
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Virat Kohli