India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir showered praise on Shubman Gill’s captaincy after the youngster impressed with his leadership on the England tour. India drew the series against England 2-2 and Gill was able to impress on his maiden tour as a leader.
Gill led from the front as he amassed 754 runs in five Test matches at an average of 75.40, including four centuries. Gambhir said Gill had led with aplomb on all 25 days of the series against England and he was able to get the best out of his players as he remained calm despite under pressure.
“I remember the entire conversation. I told him one thing very clearly, that we have thrown you in the deep sea, and there are only two outcomes from here. Either you will drown or you will become world-class. For me, the 750-odd runs he scored in England does not matter much. If he had not scored those in that tour, he would have scored it in the next tour, that is his quality,” Gambhir said on Jio Hotstar.
“What mattered for me, was the way a 25-year-old kid, with a young team, handled himself and his captaincy, the pressure, over there against a quality England side. Because I don’t think there will be a more difficult test than that in his captaincy career, whether he leads for 10 years, 15 years, or 2 years. I don’t think any captain in India has had such a challenge, over a span of 2 months, considering how intimidating England’s batting was, and how inexperienced our team was,” Gambhir added.
After India registered a thumping six-run win at the Kennington Oval to level the series, Gambhir told Gill that he had passed his acid test.
“He has passed his most difficult test, and I told him after we won at The Oval, I told him that he just passed his most difficult test in the transition, and from here on, things will be much easier. I hope they get more easier for him because he deserves every bit of it. The amount of criticism he has received, the kind of things people have said about him, it has been unfair. You can’t expect a 25-year-old kid to have an average of 50, and score every time everywhere. The kind of potential he has, I was never shocked that he scored 750 runs in England,” Gambhir revealed.
India currently leads 1-0 against the West Indies in the ongoing two-match series.
