'When you take over a team, there will always...': Alastair Cook backs undefire Shubman Gill after India's five-wicket loss in 1st Test of Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy

Former England captain Alastair Cook backed India's newly appointed Test captain Shubman Gill after the Men in Blue suffered a five-wicket defeat in the first Test match against the Three Lions at the Yorkshire Cricket Ground in Leeds, England. Gill, who was announced as Rohit Sharma's successor to lead India in whites, has faced a lot of criticism for his captaincy after the team lost the first Test despite five centurions.

However, Cook compared Gill's captaincy with Ben Stokes, who is currently leading England. He backed the Indian batter, saying that there is always a phase when the team gets used to the new captain. The ongoing five-Test match series of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy 2025 is Gill's first assignment as a captain.

“When you take over a team, there will always be a phase when the team gets used to the new leader. This happened with (Ben) Stokes when he came in. It took a while (for England players) to get used to him when he came in and said, ‘We’re going to try and smash every ball,’ Cook said as quoted by the Indian Express.

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Former India spinner Murali Kartik had said that multiple players giving instructions in the field is also not a good that which was happened during Day 5 of the first Test.

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“At one point I felt there were too many captains,” said Kartik on Cricbuzz. “I just couldn’t understand that. KL Rahul was making hand movements, Rishabh Pant was also doing it, and so was Shubman Gill who is actually the man appointed as captain. I couldn’t understand those multiple hand signals. You wouldn’t want to complicate things. There is only one captain.”

“A senior player making slight changes here and there, correcting someone slightly when they feel they are slightly in the wrong position, sending third man or short fine, mid-on, mid-off; these are all fine occasionally. However, so many players taking calls so frequently is not a good sign.”

Team India are currently in Birmingham preparing for the second Test match, which will take place at Edgbaston Stadium from 2-6 July.