New Delhi: Shubman Gill has “already passed his toughest test as captain in England”, asserted India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday as he lauded the young leader for earning the dressing room’s respect by “saying and doing the right things”.
As he turned 44 on Tuesday, Gambhir had more than one reason to celebrate with India completing a Test series sweep over the West Indies, which was also Gill’s first series triumph as captain.
Asked how he is managing the 26-year-old, who was also recently handed ODI captaincy and will start in the role with an away series against Australia from Sunday, Gambhir was prompt with his response.
Taking charge of the Indian team, however, hasn’t been easy for the 26-year-old top-order batter, especially since he has succeeded the iconic Rohit Sharma as captain in both formats. Gill has thus been subjected to a considerable amount of trolling and abuse in recent weeks, especially from fans of Rohit and fellow batting superstar and ex-captain Virat Kohli, who has also quit T20Is and Tests, with the two stalwarts now facing an uncertain future in ODIs, and by extension the Indian team.
Coach Gambhir, however, has made it clear that he will continue to shield Gill from unfair criticism so long as he does and says the right things, while heaping praise on the leadership skills of India’s new Test No 4, especially during the recent tour or England.
Gambhir also expects Gill to hit a roadblock at some point in his tenure as captain and is curious to see how he responds in such situations, and ultimately bounces back. The 43-year-old, however, has assured the skipper that he will remain by his side even if things don’t go their way.
“It is still very early days, because he has only captained in six Tests. But the way he is handling pressure is standing out. He will keep growing. He is still a work in progress. He still has not seen the worst days in his captaincy tenure. It will happen someday. One day, there will be lows. Now, he is a one-day captain as well. I want to actually see how he reacts when things don’t go his way – whether it’s personally or from the team’s point of view,” Gambhir said.
“I have always told him one thing: I will always be there to back him and protect him. My job is to take the pressure off him, I am ready to take all the criticism for him till the time he is doing all the right things for the team, till the time he is absolutely transparent and honest with the players in the dressing room. That’s the only way to earn respect.
“So far, he has been brilliant, transparent, and he has been upfront. He has said the right things, done the right things. He has worked extremely hard. He has ticked all the boxes. What more can a coach ask from a captain who has ticked all the right boxes,” he added.
The former India and Delhi opener also recalled his conversation with Gill after he was named Test captain, in which he had made it clear that the rising star was being ’thrown in a deep sea” at a time when the Indian team was going through a transition.
“I do remember. I remember the entire conversation. Picking a 25-year-old to captain a Test side, I told him one thing very clearly: ‘We have thrown you in a deep sea. From here, there are only two paths — you may drown or you’ll become a world-class swimmer’,” Gambhir told former teammate Aakash Chopra on Star Sports.
“For me, the 750 runs in England don’t matter as much as the way a 25-year-old, in his first Test series as captain, handled himself, the team, and the pressure,” he added.
Gill not only led the team well against the Ben Stokes-led English team, who have been on a roll in the five-day format since the dawn of the ‘Bazball’ Era in 2022, but the burden of captaincy appeared to have little effect on his batting form.
The Punjab batter, after all, would end up scoring a whopping 754 runs in the five-Test series, collecting four centuries along the way and breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s record for the Indian batter with most runs in his maiden Test series as captain.
And on the leadership front, Gill led a relatively inexperienced Indian team to a 2-2 draw away from home with a thrilling victory in the series finale at The Oval.
“I don’t think he will face a tougher test in his career. Regardless of whether he captains for 10 years, 15 years, or two years, that was a challenging two-month period. England had an intimidating batting unit, and our side was inexperienced, but he handled the pressure superbly. That was a massive test,” Gambhir continued in the interview.
“I remember after the Oval Test, I told him, ‘You have passed your most difficult test. The transition is over. From here, things will become easier,” he added.
