Shubman Gill Handed Big 'Shell-Shocked' Verdict On Captaincy Debut: "Other People Made Decisions..."
Former England captain Alastair Cook has stated that Shubman Gill must have felt shell-shocked on his Test captaincy debut.
Shubman Gill suffered defeat in his first Test match as captain of India, in rather dramatic circumstances. Despite India scoring more than 800 runs across both innings - including five centuries - they ended up on the losing side as England pulled off the second-highest successful chase on home soil. It was a brutal reality-check for Gill, and former England captain Alastair Cook offered him sympathy. However, Cook stated that Gill must have felt "shell-shocked" with no tactic seemingly working for him in trying to stop England.
"I sympathised with the India captain, Shubman Gill, in that fourth innings," Cook wrote in his column for UK-based newspaper The Times.
"With it going round the park you could see lots of people out on the field making decisions and getting involved with DRS calls, and they got all of those wrong. You can read all the leadership books you like but until you are out there, there is no other feeling like it. I imagine he would have felt shell-shocked," Cook added.
Gill smashed a superb 147, the second-highest individual score of the match, in the first innings. It was one of five centuries made by India batters across the Test, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul slamming one each, and Rishabh Pant smashing two.
However, India had to bear the agony of becoming the first team in the history of Test cricket to lose a Test match despite having five centuries.
Cook said that Gill's inexperience showed.
"I think in India's second innings a more established captain might have thought 'we're 340 ahead and five down, let's put some pressure on England'. As it was they were bowled out with a lead of just over 370 anyway, but it might have helped their situation to have attacked a bit more," Cook wrote.
Cook also stated that India's bowlers, particularly Ravindra Jadeja, could've tried something different with the way they bowled. Jadeja managed to take just one wicket in the entire match.
"I thought Jadeja could have bowled into the rough slightly slower - instead he bowled in the way he might have done in India," Cook wrote.
Cook, who is England's second-highest Test run-scorer of all time, also suggested that he expects Nitish Reddy to enter India's playing XI for the second Test at Edgbaston, and also vouched for the inclusion of left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.
"I expect India to change their team. They might have to leave out either Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan and play Nitish Kumar Reddy, who can bat and also bowl some phantom seamers, and then they can play Kuldeep Yadav as an extra spinner," Cook said.
The second Test between India and England begins on Wednesday, July 2.
India Cricket Team