Shubman Gill Makes England Great Backtrack From His 'Virat Kohli Aura' Remark: "Easy When You..."
It took Shubman Gill just 430 runs -- 259 in the first innings and 161 in the second -- to win over his critics.
It took Shubman Gill just 430 runs -- 259 in the first innings and 161 in the second -- to win over his critics. The Indian captain led from the front as India smashed England by 336 runs at Edgbaston to level the five-match series. After slamming Gill for his captaincy, following the loss in Leeds last month, former England captain Nasser Hussain was all praise for the 25-year-old. Hussain had claimed that Gill's captaincy at Headingley didn't have Virat Kohli's aura. However, Gill's batting and captaincy has made Hussain to backtrack from his earlier remark. He suggested that Gill's calm and composed demeanour is exactly what India need right now.
"I do think that was important. I do think he was more visible. It's very easy when you lose, you sort of blame the captain and say, Oh, he went missing. And when you win, you go, oh, he's a great captain. But I do think just watching from up above, which we often do in a commentary box, at the Headingly game, there was a lot of input from a lot of people, and it was like, who's in charge? You look down today, and there was a, he was in charge, and the camera often went in him, and he was moving fielders around. He still needs help from Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul or whatever, but he looked in charge," Hussain told Sky Sports.
"He's always going to be calm and composed. You just listened to that interview. He's got a very low heartbeat. So he's not going to be a Kohli-type character. He's got a low heartbeat, but that can help. Look at this crowd here today. Look at all of India watching on. You may need someone just to calm the team."
Hussain also highlighted Gill's tactical masterclass after pacer Akash Deep requested him to change his ends. Hussain said that it was an unlikely move, but praised Gill for trusting his instincts.
"He did some subtle things that we wouldn't do. Akash Deep bowled beautifully this end (got two wickets). This morning we thought he was going to start this end. He started him up at the end, and it worked. So there were tactical things that he did in the game as well that really worked," he added.
Last but not the least, Hussain praised Gill for doing what needs to be done from his part, and that is to score truckload of runs.
"The most important thing is to get runs. That's his number one job, and he's got a shed load of runs."
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Virat Kohli