India's star spinner Axar Patel feels the best thing about Shubman Gill's captaincy is that he has not been pressurised which has been yielding results for Men in Blue. Team India is currently gearing up for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia, and Shubman Gill's captaincy acumen will be put to test Down Under.
Axar Patel has his say on Shubman Gill's captaincy
But Axar believes that the continued presence of veteran players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Indian ODI team is a major advantage for newly appointed captain Shubman Gill, according to left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Speaking after India's second training session on Friday, ahead of the first ODI on Sunday, October 19, Axar suggested that having the experienced duo on the field will only help Gill grow into his leadership role.
Axar also offered an observation on the veteran batsmen's current form. He noted that both Rohit and Kohli, who haven't played for India since the Champions Trophy in March, appear as "sharp as ever" in the training sessions. This bodes well for the team under Gill, who has taken over the ODI captaincy from Rohit, despite the latter having led India to the recent Champions Trophy title.
"For Gill, it's perfect, Rohit Bhai and Virat Bhai are there, and along with that, they have been captains, so they can give their input also, so it is very good growth of Gill's captaincy. What has been good about Gill's captaincy thus far is that he has not been pressurised," Axar told reporters during a joint interaction with Australia's Travis Head.
Under Gill's captaincy, India have drawn Test series against England, and then followed it up with a clean sweep over West Indies.
Even though it has been a significant period since Rohit and Virat last played competitive cricket, Axar stated that their time away hasn't dulled their edge. According to the spinner, both batsmen are currently looking 'as sharp as ever' in their training sessions.
"Like Travis said, they both are world class players. We can see after the first match (how their form is). They are professionals, so they know what to do. They have been practising in Bangalore's Centre of Excellence, so I think they are ready to go. They are looking very good both in nets and fitness wise," said the bowling all-rounder, who first visited Australia as an India player a decade ago," he concluded.
Indian squads for the white-ball series in Australia:
India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.