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Shubman Gill asked to acquire MS Dhoni's captaincy 'component' to become 'great India leader': ‘Whole bunch of things…’
India Test captain Shubman Gill advised to acquire key ‘captaincy component’ from MS Dhoni to become a great leader.
It's still early days for Shubman Gill, the captain. The right-handed batter, who is just 25 years old, took over the reins of the Test team from Rohit Sharma following his retirement from the Test format. Gill has shown impressive early signs as a leader, but it is fair to say that he is still trying to find his footing as the Indian captain. The Lord's Test against England brought out a fiery side to his personality as he lost his cool and snapped at Zak Crawley after he deliberately wasted time.
The stump mic picked up Gill asking Crawley to “grow some f******g b***s”. The Indian captain then also faced plenty of verbals from the England camp when he came out to bat.
Amid the ongoing intense Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, in which India trails 1-2, Shubman Gill has been advised to learn from MS Dhoni a key captaincy component if he wants to become a great leader.
Former South Africa opening batter Gary Kirsten, who also coached India during the 2011 World Cup, said that Gill needs to become a good manager like Dhoni if he wants to succeed as captain in international cricket.
It must be mentioned that Kirstan has observed Gill closely, as the former Proteas batter was part of the Gujarat Titans coaching staff from 2022-2024.
Also Read: Shubman Gill’s attitude questioned in Lord’s defeat; Ben Stokes held up as example
“Well, it's early days. I think he's got great potential. Captaincy is a whole lot of things that you've got to put together. He's a great thinker in the game. He's a good player himself. But there's a whole bunch of things you've got to get right. And I think man management is going to play, like any leader,” Kirsten said in an interview with Rediff.com.
“Dhoni was an incredible man-manager. If he can get that component of his leadership really fired up, I think he has all the credentials to become a great captain for India,” he added.
Shubman Gill's failure in Lord's Test
Shubman Gill started the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with a bang as he registered a century in his very first innings as the Indian Test captain. He smashed 147 in the first innings of the Headingley Test.
The right-hander then followed it up with scores of 269 and 161 in the next Test in Edgbaston, helping India level the five-match series at 1-1. Gill aggregated 430 runs in the second Test.
However, Gill failed to get going in the Lord's Test as the England bowlers found a way to trouble him early and send him back to the hut.
India and England will next square off in the Manchester Test, set to begin on Wednesday, July 23.
