The Shubman GIll-led side recorded their first Test win at Edgbaston.
Less than two weeks after criticising the captaincy skills of Indian skipper Shubman Gill and comparing his on-field intensity with Virat Kohli, former England captain Nasser Hussain has made a complete u-turn. Hussain praised the young Indian captain for showing great command and clarity as the 25-year-old led India to a historic first-ever Test win at the iconic Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday. The Men in Blue outplayed England in almost every aspect of the game. They recorded their biggest overseas Test victory, by 336 runs, to level the five-match series 1-1
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152/8
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Following India’s heartbreaking defeat in Leeds despite five individual centuries, Hussain questioned Gill’s leadership skills and tactical acumen, mentioning that it lacked the aura Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had. The Englishman observed that the Indian captain never felt like the leader on the field in the Headingley Test amid inputs from senior players KL Rahul and vice-captain Rishabh Pant. Notably, the Leeds Test was his first match as India’s Test captain.
“I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You’ve got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he’s taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn’t quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there,” he had told Sky Sports after India’s five-wicket loss at Headingley.
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However, after India’s historic win at Edgbaston, the former England skipper couldn’t stop himself from praising Gill. He acknowledged that the current Indian captain is unlikely to be a “Kohli-type character” on the field, and feels Gill’s “calm and composed” demeanour best suits India at the moment.
“I do think he was more visible. It’s very easy when you lose, you sort of blame the captain and say, Oh, he went missing. And when you win, you go, oh, he’s a great captain. But I do think just watching from up above, which we often do in a commentary box, at the Headingley game, there was a lot of input from a lot of people, and it was like, who’s in charge? You look down today, and he was in charge, and the camera often went in him, and he was moving fielders around. He still needs help from Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul or whatever, but he looked in charge,” Hussain told SkySports after the match.
“He’s always going to be calm and composed. You just listened to that interview. He’s got a very low heartbeat. So he’s not going to be a Kohli-type character. He’s got a low heartbeat, but that can help. Look at this crowd here today. Look at all of India watching on. You may need someone just to calm the team,” he added.
One of the biggest moves from captain Gill stunned Hussain. It was the call to bowl Akash Deep from the opposite end from where he had already picked up two wickets. He believes that no other captain would have thought of that. But it benefited the visitors as Akash single-handedly ran through the England batting line-up.
“He did some subtle things that we wouldn’t do. This morning, we thought Akash Deep was going to start this end. He started him up at the end, and it worked. So there were tactical things that he did in the game as well that really worked,” he said.
The right-arm pacer finished with his best of 6 for 99, helping India dismiss England for 271 on the last day. He also got a four-fer in the first innings. Overall, Akash took 10 wickets in the match. He became only the second Indian bowler since Chetan Sharma in 1986 to use English conditions.
England will meet India for the third Test at Lord’s on July 10.
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