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Sunil Gavaskar tells Shubman Gill 'you should behave...' after replacing Rohit Sharma as India's new Test captain
Sunil Gavaskar asserted that 25-year-old Shubman Gill will be under pressure after taking over the leadership role.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar has told India's newly-appointed Test skipper Shubman Gill to command the players' respect. The 25-year-old has been elevated to the big captaincy role in the red-ball team despite the absence of senior players like KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah in the side. After Rohit Sharma's retirement from the format, the selectors had a tough task to find his successor, but they had clarity in terms of choosing the next leader, as Ajit Agarkar explained his reasons for picking young Gill over Rahul and Bumrah.
Shubman has led his IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans, to the playoffs this season and also led the Indian team in T20Is last year on the Zimbabwe tour. However, he has no experience captaining in the Test format at the highest level. However, the board has shown confidence in him as his first assignment will be a tough one on the England tour, where India will play five Test matches and kickstart their new WTC cycle.
Gavaskar asserted that the 25-year-old will be under pressure after taking over the leadership role.
“There is always pressure on the player who gets elected as India’s captain as there is a big difference between being a member of the team and being the captain," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.
The batting legend further said that Shubman has to command the respect of the players with his behaviour, which is key for any captain.
“Because when you are a team member, you generally just interact with players close to you, but when you become the captain, you should behave in a way that the other players in the team respect you and a captain’s behaviour is more important than his performance," he added.
'A very well-selected team': Gavaskar on India squad for England tour
Meanwhile, the Indian Test team will start a big transition period with the England tour. Stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have retired from Tests, and a few youngsters will get opportunities to fill in the big shoes. The selectors have picked Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan alongside Karun Nair, who last played for India in 2017, in a new-look batting order for the England tour.
Gavaskar was impressed with the squad and called it a very well-selected team, as he pointed out the selectors' vision for the next WTC cycle.
“It is a great team, and it has been selected while keeping in mind that this is the beginning of a new World Test Championship cycle so you would want these players to play for the next two or more years. This is also a bold move because Shubman Gill doesn’t have much experience as captain, but there are many other experienced players in the side like Jasprit Bumrah, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant so it indeed is a very well-selected team," he concluded.
