Kolkata: Ashish Nehra has described Shubman Gill the India captain as a “work in progress” while backing the batter to improve with experience, stressing that there is no single template for leadership.
Nehra, speaking at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s annual awards in Kolkata on Monday, drew a contrast between Gill and Hardik Pandya, the current and previous skippers of Gujarat Titans of which the former India fast bowler is the head coach. Both, Nehra noted, had entered leadership without extensive coaching or captaincy experience.
“You learn on your way forward,” Nehra said. “Shubman is somebody who is pretty much doing captaincy for India in two formats, so he’s only going to get better.”
Gill, 26, has had to grow rapidly into the demands of leading India, while also carrying expectations as one of the country’s leading batters. Nehra believes his personality may shape the way he leads, but should not be mistaken as a weakness.
“Hardik is an amazing character,” Nehra said. “He completely trusted me, which was the perfect thing. He will always ask if something doesn’t go right or doesn’t go well. He is somebody who one can have lots of conversations with.”
{{/usCountry}}“Hardik is an amazing character,” Nehra said. “He completely trusted me, which was the perfect thing. He will always ask if something doesn’t go right or doesn’t go well. He is somebody who one can have lots of conversations with.”
{{/usCountry}}Gill isn’t as expressive. “Shubman is a little reserved, a little shy, but that’s okay. Everyone is different. There’s no right or wrong.”
Nehra said Gill’s quiet nature was accompanied by an appetite for learning. “He will not talk, will not have conversation as many as Hardik, but he is to the point and is a very keen learner, keen observer,” he said. “Of course, he is a work in progress. He is only 26-27, and it is not that he has been doing captaincy for so many years. It is only 1-2 seasons, and you learn things and you will get better.”
For Nehra, the greater test of Gill’s captaincy will not simply be results, but how he responds to them. “My personal experience, how you deal with the players, results, all those things are fine,” he said. “How you are as a person when you are winning ... when you are losing it makes a difference. But how you handle that, you have to be mentally stronger going forward as a captain.”
Nehra was also asked whether he aspired to coach India. He resisted turning the possibility into a stated ambition. “I would not use the word ambition,” he said. “It would be a great honour, privilege, but I have never planned things like that. We will see in the future.”