Shubman Gill on Rohit Sharma's leadership: 'Even if he is swearing at you, you wouldn't take it to heart' | England vs India Test series

Overseas tours for an Asian player, particularly those outside the sub-continent, are very demanding. It only gets tougher if a player is thrust into his leadership debut during one such overseas tour. Shubman Gill is yet to crack the code in Test cricket, but his unquestionable talent is there for all to see. 

 

Unfortunately for him, he'll not have much time to bother about his form as he gears up for his captaincy debut on English shores. A double whammy, a kind of dual trouble that nobody would wish for. Gill, though, seems relaxed as he prepares for a humongous assignment with the Indian team on the cusp of a transition phase. 

 

Having played under multiple captains for India and in the IPL, Gill hopes to take the best qualities from each of them, but when it comes to leadership philosophy, he singles out one person - his predecessor, Rohit Sharma.

 

The Mumbai veteran has been one of world cricket's most notable captains, having led India to two ICC titles in the last two years (the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy), in addition to winning five IPL titles as captain of the Mumbai Indians. More than the success, Rohit's teammates have been effusive in their praise of his leadership style and the comfortable atmosphere that Rohit managed to create during his stints across formats. It is something that Gill hopes to use as a marker.

 

"Rohit Bhai (Rohit Sharma) is an aggressive captain. He is tactically an aggressive captain. He is someone who is very clear in his communication, before the series, during the matches and after the series." explains Gill in an interview with Dinesh Karthik for Sky Sports.

 

"The kind of environment that he keeps, I mean even if Rohit Bhai is swearing at you, you wouldn't take it to heart. That's just his personality and it's a great environment to have. You know that even if he is being hard on you, it is not coming from his heart but from a team perspective."

 

The 25-year-old also heaped praise on Virat Kohli, India's most successful Test captain. While appreciating Rohit for the environment and tactics, Gill felt that Kohli's biggest strength was his passion for the game and the proactive nature of his leadership. We've seldom seen a bore moment with India on the field under Kohli and Gill feels that this brand of captaincy resonated well due to Kohli's persona. 

 

Kohli has been an eternal admirer of the longest format, and his efforts to move a Test match forward were commendable. Gill praised this proactive nature of Kohli and felt that this attacking style of captaincy rubbed off well on the other teammates as well. Gill hopes to tap into a bit of Kohli's style as well.

 

"When I played under Virat, his proactiveness in Test matches with the field or with his ideas was something that I liked and picked up. If he thinks that one plan is not working, he would immediately have another plan, and communicate that to the bowler." 

 

Having made his Test debut during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2020-21, Gill's career in red-ball cricket hasn't quite taken off like his ODI exploits. In his debut series, he showed glimpses of his immense potential with the crucial half-century that was the platform for India's historic win at the Gabba. However, after 32 Tests, Gill's average stands at a lukewarm figure of 35.05, which is underwhelming for a player of his ability. It is, therefore, not entirely surprising that the general reaction to his captaincy stint has been a divided one. 

 

As surprising to the world as the decision was to appoint him as Test captain, Gill reveals how it was an unexpected development for him, too.

 

"All I remember was that when I was young, when I was a kid, I just wanted ti play for India, I just wanted to perform for India and wanted to win matches.It was like not even in my dreams, I thought I wanted to be the captain of the Indian cricket team."

"All my dream was to be able to represent India and perform and win matches for India."

 

But now that he has landed the biggest job in Indian cricket, Gill hopes to make it count. With India entering the transition era as a Test side, Gill knows that each step he takes as the leader could have more layers to it. Throughout his professional career, the Punjab batter has a limited captaincy history to look back on, with his leadership role for the IPL side Gujarat Titans being the most notable of the lot. After a disappointing 2024 season where GT couldn't make it past the league stages, Gill led the franchise to the playoffs this year, also churning out a mountain of runs in the process.

 

Gill knows that the bar set by previous captains, notably Virat Kohli, is particularly high, but he isn't too fazed by the statistical aspect at the moment. While he admits the relevance of winning trophies, Gill is more determined to create a comfortable environment among his teammates. 

 

"Apart from all the silverware and all the trophies aside, I would, I really would like to build a culture where everyone is very secure and happy.  And I know it's a very, it can be a very difficult environment, especially with all the competition and all the number of matches that we play, different squads coming in.But if I'm able to do that, I think that would be my goal."

 

It also helps that he hasn't been given any deadlines or immediate targets by the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar. Gill explains how the communication between Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir and himself has been about doing the simple things consistently. The key aspect, according to Gill, is the free hand that the think tank has given him in terms of taking Indian cricket forward. He feels that this is helping him to take in the captaincy challenge in a relaxed manner. 

 

"They just want me to be able to express myself as a leader. There are no expectations. They are not expecting me to do something that I'm not capable of. (2:44) So in terms of that, I don't think from them there are any expectations or there is any pressure."

"But you definitely have some kind of expectations from yourself as a leader and as a player.So those are the expectations that I have from myself, but it's not so much from them."

 

Gill will, of course, have a lot of inputs given to him from the likes of KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, all of whom are now comfortably the most senior players in the squad. The young captain knows that he has the veteran trio's backing when it comes to taking critical decisions and also explained how he doesn't need to expect things from experienced players. All three players have had considerable experience in English conditions and all that will be priceless for Gill and co in the upcoming series. 

 

"I honestly don't really have any kind of set expectations from them. They have come here, they have all played more than maybe 10-15 test matches there in England and they know what can or cannot be here and they are sharing their experience of how you can win test matches in England. And the first time I think KL Bhai came or Mumbai came in 2018, like even that test series was much closer than what it looked like on paper."

 

Having a young core group of players might mean that the squad is short on experience as a group but for a new young captain like Gill, it is also an ideal scenario to build things from scratch. Following the retirements of Kohli, Rohit and Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian team now has a very new-look feel to it, especially with the selectors also having moved on from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Getting the batting order right will be one of Gill's major headaches during the England Tests but he is looking at it as an exciting opportunity than a concern. 

 

"Very exciting.I mean, the average age when I came in was, I think, about 34, 35.Now it's about 26, 27. You know, so many young players, so many exciting players.And I think the most exciting part about having so many young players is you can kind of mould the team or the culture or drive the culture in a way where you would want the Indian cricket team culture to be.

"And this is a conversation that I've also had with Rohit by a couple of times that idly in the next 5, 7 or 10 or 15 years, where would we want the Indian our culture, the Indian cricket team culture to be.And like you said, having a young team, I think it's relatively easy to be able to do that."

 

Grapevine has it that Gill is likely to move to a new batting position in Test cricket. With Kohli no longer around, the no.4 spot is up for grabs, and generally, the best batter of the side takes control of that position. It could also allow the skipper to align the demands of Test cricket to his usual flamboyant style of play. To date, Gill has only batted in the top-three and batting at four could mean a lot less exposure to the brand new ball. When quibbled about this, Gill remained tight-lipped about the move and said that all options are on the table, waiting to be analysed. The intra-squad game between India and India A could give an indication on this.,

 

"Not really.I think we are playing a practise game, a warm-up game.So I'm going to maybe test the waters in that one and see which batting position suits for who."

 

The five-match Test series between England and India kicks-off at Headingley on June 20 with the following matches to be held at Birmingham, Lord's, Manchester and The Oval.

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