Sourav Ganguly refused to accept that the current Test captain’s tenure, Shubman Gill, and his captaincy in Australia were similar. The 25-year-old was recently given the captain’s armband after the retirement of Rohit Sharma from the longest format.
The selectors were interested in Jasprit Bumrah, but the speedster informed them about his unwillingness to lead the side, considering his workload issues and injury concerns.
Former players criticised Shubman’s decision-making in the first Test defeat against England. They felt he lacked authority and was influenced by senior players Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul.
Despite five centuries from the Indian batters, England managed to stun the visitors by 5 wickets in Leeds. Ben Duckett was the only centurion from the host nation, but they managed to thump the sub-continent nation.
Ganguly-led India were impressive against Australia in 2003. This prompted Harsha Bhogle to compare Ganguly with Gill as he tried to draw a similarity between Ganguly’s leadership in Australia to Gill’s first series as a skipper in England.
“Shubman Gill is one Test old, and I was into captaincy for three years in Australia in 2003. Gill is different over here. Our win in Australia hardened me as a captain,” Sourav Ganguly said.
Sourav also lauded former all-rounder Irfan Pathan but stated that he shouldn’t have batted at the No.3 spot.
“Irfan Pathan was a good bowler and could bring in and take the ball out. After a few years, he was batting at the No.3 spot. I felt it was not a good move for him. He should have batted in the lower order,” he added.