How Shubman Gill's Test captaincy is linked to legacy

The last man from Punjab to debut in a Test for India, before Shubman Gill, was the tall and fast V.R.V. Singh. That was in 2006. It took the state nearly 15 years to send another of its prospects to the national side, when a fresh-faced Gill played a hero’s role in India’s historic win at the Gabba.

 

Four years later, he has been made captain of the team after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli called time on their red-ball career. The conversation around Gill in the past few years has been about his potential to carry on Kohli’s legacy. Both Punjabis, U19 World Cup winners and generational talents, now with the same bat sticker, too.

 

And sure, Gill has been living up to that promise in ODI cricket—he has the highest batting average (59.04) of anyone who has played more than 50 matches—and is the youngest to score a double hundred in the format.

 

But Test cricket is a world apart. Granted, Kohli was averaging under 40 in Tests when he became captain, but there was no questioning his place in the team. He already had centuries in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and was widely accepted as the leader in-waiting. The selectors must have picked Gill on potential, and his average (35.05) is not that bad given the global dip in batting averages, but he is still to get a hundred outside the subcontinent. He was also dropped from the fourth Test in Australia last year, before making it back to the last Test when captain Sharma dropped himself.

 

And that is probably why the announcement of Gill as captain was met with cautious agreement rather than all-out excitement. The popular choice among fans was another Punjabi—and arguably the best cricketer in the world—Jasprit Bumrah. But a bowler like Bumrah comes around once in a few generations, if that, and keeping him physically fit is key to India’s fortunes across formats.

 

In steps Gill. And with that step comes the transformation from a talented batter to the face of the Indian cricket team. A face that advertisers love, but also one that certain corners of the internet troll for not having facial hair like almost every man of the Kohli-era team. Gill’s voice has also been a target for being “feminine”, “shrill” and not “macho” enough. Interestingly, he did voice acting for the Indian Spider-Man—a shy high-school student—in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a couple of years ago. Going by the YouTube comment section of the trailer, he did a splendid job.

 

But trolling is a relentless pursuit. And Gill knows this. He has been linked to more women than the number of years he has been an international cricketer. In an interview, he admitted that all the noise got to him during the pandemic, but he got over it in a couple of months.

 

Gill comes from a generation that has seen the internet all their life. He is the first Indian captain whose journey can be traced through his Instagram account—from countless mirror selfies with captions like, “Am not special, I am just limited edition”, to snippets of a growing career at the junior level, to finally now a mix of sponsored posts, photo-shoots and cricketing exploits.

 

Coming back to Kohli and legacy, where Gill bats will give an insight into how much he and the team management actually buy into this narrative of the ‘Prince’ taking over from the ‘King’. Gill has only opened or come in at one-down. Taking Kohli’s position at four would be a statement.

 

But that is not the only legacy Gill carries. He is Test captain no. 37; the first of independent India was another Punjabi—Lala Amarnath. Somewhere in between was the legendary Bishan Singh Bedi. It is their body of work that Gill carries forward as captain. In a state that has recently unearthed a lot of talent in the shorter formats, including India’s T20I opener Abhishek Sharma, pacer Arshdeep Singh (part of the Test squad for England) and Punjab Kings opener Prabhsimran Singh, to name a few, Gill is the poster boy for what can be.

 

A win in England, where India last won in 2007, would be a dream start for the captain. But it won’t be easy. Gill takes over at a low point in Indian Test cricket. New Zealand dismantled a legacy by defeating India 3-0 at home; the first home series loss in 12 years. They then lost 3-1 in Australia and missed what would have been their third World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

 

This English assignment will be India’s first in the new WTC cycle, and will also mark the beginning of a new era. Gill’s ascent is the headline-grabber, but there are other stories that will unfold in the next few weeks. For one, there is the return of Karun Nair. The Bengaluru batter last played a Test for India eight years ago. In 2016, he scored 303* against England in Chennai. Ever since, he has toiled on the domestic circuit, winning the Ranji Trophy with Vidarbha and returning to the IPL this year. In the absence of Kohli and Sharma, India will rely on the experience of Nair, along with K.L. Rahul. That he has played for Northamptonshire in county cricket would help him navigate the pitches in England.

 

Another man who has had a stint in county cricket, at Surrey, is the star of this IPL season—Sai Sudarshan. If Nair’s is a story of redemption, the 23-year-old is at the other end of the spectrum. An up-and-coming talent who has the world at his feet at the moment.

 

But the most important weapon in India’s arsenal is Bumrah, and the fact that he will play only three matches will weigh heavily on the team’s mind. If India lose the first two matches with Bumrah playing, there might be the temptation to play him more than planned.

 

As with most foreign tours, the conditions will make or break the Indian team. This summer in England has been dry, with little rain, which means the pitches might not be as swing-friendly as they usually are. This could bring the spinners into play a bit more, and India have the better spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar. England only have a mercurial Shoaib Bashir and perhaps a few overs from Joe Root.

 

If the pitches do aid the pacers, India’s experience would help. They will miss Mohammed Shami, but still hold the advantage in terms of overall maturity. The England bowling line-up is far different from the one that India came up against a couple of years ago. They don’t have James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.

 

As for batting, flatter wickets would also mean more runs, and there is where India’s lack of experience could show. England have the mighty Root, the Bazballing openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the talented Harry Brook and of course captain Ben Stokes.

 

It is here that Gill the batter has to step up. He has said he will only think as a batter while at the crease and not let the captain in him influence his decisions. How he actually implements that will be crucial because if he fails in the first few innings, it could affect his thinking as the skipper.

 

Gill’s captaincy record so far is limited to the Gujarat Titans in the IPL (two seasons), a couple of Ranji matches and a T20I series in Zimbabwe. India won that series, but lost the first match in a shocker. In the IPL, he took GT to the playoffs this year and was one of their batting mainstays. The point being that the sample size of his captaincy is not big enough to draw any trends.

 

GT assistant coach Parthiv Patel said in an interview that Gill spends a lot of time with the young players and that he has been a leader in the dressing room. It would help that four of the men in that dressing room—Sai Sudarshan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Sundar—are part of the team in England.

 

Perhaps the most important aspect of Gill as captain would be his relationship with head coach Gautam Gambhir. With Kohli, Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin gone, Gambhir’s is the loudest voice in the team. And he now has a new generation, people he hasn’t played with for India, to nurture and guide.

 

Both Gill and Gambhir are young in terms of their roles. Gill is 25; Gambhir is 43. Given the stability that Indian cricket has looked for in Test captains in the recent past, it would be assumed that the selectors want Gill for the long haul.

 

Which is why it would be harsh to judge captain Gill only on the basis of this England tour. This is a team in transition, and could well end up not making the WTC final in this cycle. But given the talent pool in the country, India is never out of the picture. It all depends on how Gill paints that picture.

The Week