New Delhi: Former England skipper Graham Gooch feels in new skipper Shubman Gill, India are in safe hands, after the retirements of stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Gill was appointed India’s Test skipper after the retirements of Sharma and Kohli before the ongoing England series. The appointment was met with scepticism as Gill was relatively inexperienced in red-ball cricket.
His batting record in Tests away from home was also pointed it when questions were raised about his credentials to become the captain.
But the top-order batter has emerged as the leading scorer of the five-match series with 754 runs, falling only 20 short of Sunil Gavaskar’s mark.
“Look, one door closes, another one opens. You can’t expect, great players or any players to play on forever. There is a time when they decide that they’ve had enough or come to retirement or whatever,” he told PTI.
“Those two players you mentioned, have been wonderful servants for India and for our great game. It’s time for other people to step in. I think the young Indian players have done brilliantly.”
Gooch, who scored 8,900 runs in 118 matches, including 20 hundreds at an average of 42.58, praised Gill for rising to the occasion.
“The captain (Shubman Gill) has been outstanding. He looks a real class act with the willow and hopefully he’ll get many, many more Test runs and get many victories for India in the future. So I think the team’s in good hands,” he said.
“The captain’s an outstanding player. I think his technique is superb. His concentration and his temperament over this series has been brilliant.
“…you’ve got to remember that your job, or his job, is to score runs. He’s not put in the team just to be captain. He’s in the team to score runs”.
Siraj and Stokes cut from the same cloth
Gooch also drew parallels between England skipper Ben Stokes and India pacer Mohammed Siraj for their ability to bowl long spells disregarding the need to manage workloads.
“Siraj, I’ve got a lot of time for him. Very passionate, puts it in every time. And Ben Stokes is a similar sort of character. When he walks across the white line, he empties the tank. You understand what I mean by that. He doesn’t leave anything behind. He gives it everything,” Gooch said.
Stokes suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him from the ongoing fifth Test at The Oval, which Gooch pointed out to was due to absence of a top wicket taking bowler alongside the all-rounder.
“Stokes, to me, has been a phenomenon this season. I mean, he’s a key player for England because he balances the side. If he doesn’t play, England have to go a batsman down,” he said.
“And if they go a batsman down, we’re not good enough to have four bowlers. We need five bowlers. To have a four-bowler bowling attack, in my opinion, you need two world-class bowlers. And England don’t have that at the moment.
“Stokes has been outstanding and he’s been our best bowler. The minor concern has been the other bowlers.”