Shubman Gill has endured a mixed start to his India Test captaincy career.
Former India head coach Gary Kirsten has opened up on current India skipper Shubman Gill, saying that he has a “great potential” to become one of India’s best Test captains.
Shubman Gill was announced as India’s newest Test captain following the retirements of former captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the longest format.
While Shubman Gill has impressed with his batting in the ongoing Test series against England, hitting three centuries, his captaincy has produced a mixed outcome. India are currently 1-2 behind in the five-match Test series against England after having lost the first and third Tests at Headingley and Lord’s respectively. India had won the second Test at Edgbaston by 336 runs.
“Well, it’s early days. I think he’s got great potential. Captaincy is a whole lot of things that you’ve got to put together. He’s a great thinker in the game. He’s a good player himself. But there’s a whole bunch of things you’ve got to get right. And I think man management is going to play, like any leader,” the former South Africa cricketer told Rediff in an interview.
Gary Kirsten feels that Shubman Gill can take a few examples from MS Dhoni. The 57-year-old was the head coach of the Indian cricket team when they won the 2011 ODI World Cup under MS Dhoni.
“Dhoni was an incredible man-manager. If he can get that component of his leadership really fired up, I think he has all the credentials to become a great captain for India,” the Cape Town-born former batter stated.
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As the captain of the Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni has led India to three ICC titles — The 2007 World T20 (Now called T20 World Cup), the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. The Jharkhand cricketer also led India to Asia Cup title wins in 2010 and 2016.
Shubman Gill currently leads the top run-scorers’ charts in the England vs India Test series. The Punjab batter has aggregated 607 runs from six innings at an average of 101.16. Rishabh Pant is in second place with 425 runs from six innings at an average of 70.83.
India will look to level the series 2-2 when the fourth Test begins at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 23.
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