Former India cricketer-turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar has compared Shubman Gill with India’s three victorious captains in England. Gill was recently appointed as India’s Test skipper after Rohit Sharma’s retirement, and the ongoing series against England is his first assignment.
The 25-year-old in the five-match series. Recently, Gavaskar compared Gill with the three former India captains who’ve won a Test series in England. India have emerged victorious in England under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid.
“It might be pertinent to note that India have won a Test series in England only thrice. In 1971 under Ajit Wadekar, in 1986 under Kapil Dev and in 2007 under Rahul Dravid. All three were the coolest skippers one could ever hope for. The laconic style of Wadekar, the rip-roaring yet controlled style of Kapil and the intense and thoughtful method of Dravid,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.
Furthermore, Gavaskar mentioned how Gill exuded calmness in the second Test in Birmingham and looked like an amalgam of Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid.
“Not once did these three ever get excited, whatever the situation and that calm certainty was infectious. Shubman Gill in Birmingham looked like an amalgam of these three. Intense and iconic while scoring a double century and a century, rip roaring as well as thoughtful as his bowlers ran through the England batting in both the innings,” he added.
Gill is in the form of his life ever since taking up the leadership duties as he’s the leading run scorer in the series so far, having accumulated 607 runs from three matches. He started the series with a magnificent innings of 147 in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds and followed it up with knocks of 269 and 161 in the two innings respectively at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
As a result, he etched his name in the record books, registering the second-highest match aggregate in a Test of 430 runs and was also adjudged Player of the Match in India’s 336-run victory. Hence, after his failure at Lord’s, Gill will be hungry to bounce back in style with a big score in the fourth match in Manchester, set to be played from July 23 and help India make a comeback in the series.