'He was almost lazy in...': Ex-England star's blunt verdict on Shubman Gill's batting display in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Former England cricketer Monty Panesar feels that Shubman Gill will elevate his game in the next ffew years following the India captain's exploits in the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. There were a lot of doubts regarding the 25-year-old's leadership abilities when he was appointed as the Men in Blue's captain by BCCI ahead of the England tour. However, Gill gave a fitting reply to all his doubters with a sensational batting performance throughout the five-match series.

The India batter finished the series as the highest run-getter with 754 runs under his belt from just 10 innings. He scored a total of four centuries in the assignment with his highest individual score being 269. The side led by Gill drew the five-match series against England by 2-2 thanks to their thrilling 6-run victory in the final Test held at the Oval.

Panesar highlighted the areas where Gill has improved

Panesar pointed out that Gill was lazy with his footwork when he wasn't the captain, however he improved drastically when he was given the responsibility of leading the side and stepped up his game big time.

"Shubman Gill rose to the challenge. I always thought that he was almost lazy in his footwork when he wasn't the captain, and now, he's phenomenal. And I think we're going to hopefully see the best of them in the next couple of years," Panesar told Hindustan Times.

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Gilll played an absolutely monumental part in India's series against England. He scored a century in the first Test before scoring hundreds in both the innings of the second match. Finally, his fantastic knock of 103 runs in the fourth Test held at Old Trafford played a crucial role in the visitors pulling off a hard-fought draw. These performances saw Gill get adjudged as India's Player of the Series by England head coach Brendon McCullum.

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Gill further broke a ton of records during the five-match assignment. He first surpassed Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 732 runs to become the Indian captain with the most runs scored in a Test series. He is only behind Sir Don Bradman's tally of 810 runs in the all-time record.