Being India's Test captain can be both be rewarding and demanding at times. Shubman Gill encountered both these experiences in just three-match Test career as the skipper of the national team during the ongoing Test series against England. The 25-year-old was attacked by an English player last week during the third Lord's Test. The right-hand batter started all the chatter late on Day three when opener Zak Crawley was deliberately wasting time.
Gill did not like what he saw and went straight up to the English opener, having a few animated words to say. So far, in the youngsters' leadership, qualities have been observed in Virat Kohli - a fiery character, MS Dhoni - Captain Cool, and Rohit Sharma - a laid-back approach. However, which brand Gill will follow long-term is still unclear. While the 25-year-old did not completely excel in pulling off aggression like Kohli, Manjrekar stated there was a difference between Gill's and the former India captain's aggression.
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"The thing with Virat Kohli was that he would get even more fired up and become a better batter [if things got nasty]. What disappointed me with Shubman Gill is that I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading? Because that seemed like it didn't have the right effect on Shubman Gill, the batter," Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day.
Shubman Gill looked very tentative in the second innings at Lord's: Manjrekar
The cricketing expert also said that England players personally attacked him when he came out to bat in the second innings at Lord's. The right-hand batter did not handle those well, as he seemed extremely tentative in the middle.
"He came out looking very tentative and, you know, these days we are privy to the stump mic and we could hear the things being said and there were some personal attacks made. This could be a new experience for Shubman Gill because these days, as you can see, you know, with Indian players, there's mostly a friendly reception from a lot of foreign teams. So this was new territory. And he looked tentative and wasn't up for it," he added.
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Gill came to the third Lord's Test on the back of close to 600 runs. However, he failed to deliver in both innings at Lord's. Manjrekar stated his second-inning dismissal has got to do with English players' sledging and aggressive attack on him.
