Shubman Gill's Captaincy Given Ultimate Praise, Compared To Sourav Ganguly: "Like Dada..."
Shubman Gill, India's youngest Test captain in the 21st century, is on course to achieve back-to-back Test victories on English soil.
- Shubman Gill's captaincy has been compared to former India captain Sourav Ganguly
- Ex-India cricketer Mohammad Kaif made the comparison, bringing back memories of the 2002 Natwest Series
- "Dada led us to with aggression and ambition. 23 years later, Gill's doing the same with his young team": Kaif
Victory at Lord's for Team India is a real possibility, with India needing only 135 runs to win on Day 5. Despite losing four wickets, India still have the likes of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant left to bat, providing them a big chance of taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series against England. India delivered a clinical bowling performance under the captaincy on Day 4 to bundle England out for 192. Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif took the moment to praise Gill to the skies, comparing him to legendary India captain Sourav Ganguly, who had led a young Indian team to the Natwest Series title 23 years ago.
"This July 13 is special. Dada led us to the Natwest title with aggression and ambition. Now 23 years later, Shubman Gill's doing the same with his young team. And we didn't chase down 325 by playing Bazball," Kaif wrote on his official X account.
This July 13 is special. Dada led us to Natwest title with aggression and ambition. Now 23 years later, Shubman Gill's doing the same with his young team. And we didn't chase down 325 by playing Bazball. #natwesttrophy #Lords
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 13, 2025
In 2002, India had defeated the odds to chase down a mammoth target of 326 - then the highest-successful chase by India in ODI cricket. Kaif had starred in that game, slamming an unbeaten 87 off 75 balls.
The victory was arguably one of the biggest highlights of Ganguly's captaincy career, and marked the rise of an Indian team featuring a number of young talents like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Kaif.
Gill - India's youngest Test captain in the 21st century - is on track to win two back-to-back Tests on English soil.
At the age of 25, Gill has led by example with the bat, and is seemingly taking gigantic strides when it comes to his captaincy.
Gill marshalled his bowlers brilliantly on Day 4, leading to off-spinner Washington Sundar taking four wickets, as well as two each for Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj, and one each for Akash Deep and Nitish Reddy.
The third Test at Lord's has also seen the aggressive side of Gill. In the first innings, Gill did not hesitate to show his anger at the condition of the second new ball and the replacement provided by the umpires.
In the second innings, on Day 3, Gill was left visibly unhappy by what appeared to be time-wasting tactics from England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. It led to Gill having a stare-off with Crawley, and even telling him to "grow some b****" during the heated conversation.
India Cricket Team