Shubman Gill became the first Indian captain in history to lead the side to a Test victory over England at Edgbaston on Sunday as the Men in Blue defeated the hosts by 336 runs to level the series at 1-1. The 25-year-old was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his incredible batting display in both of India's innings. He played a magnificent knock of 269 in the first innings and followed that up with another exceptional inning of 161 on the second occasion. Gill broke a plethora of records during the second Test and will be looking shatter many more milestones as the series progresses.
Gill's leadership skills left Hussain stunned
Former England captain Nasser Hussain was left thoroughly impressed by Gill not only because of his superb knocks, but also because of his fine leadership skills. He remarked that the young Indian skipper will not be a character like Virat Kohli and will massively help the team to keep calm and maintain their composure through his captaincy.
“I do think that was important. I do think he was more visible. It's very easy when you lose, you sort of blame the captain and say, Oh, he went missing. And when you win, you go, oh, he's a great captain. But I do think just watching from up above, which we often do in a commentary box, at the Headingly game, there was a lot of input from a lot of people, and it was like, who's in charge? You look down today, and there was a, he was in charge, and the camera often went in him, and he was moving fielders around. He still needs help from Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul or whatever, but he looked in charge," Hussain said on Sky Sports.
"He's always going to be calm and composed. You just listened to that interview. He's got a very low heartbeat. So he's not going to be a Kohli-type character. He's got a low heartbeat, but that can help. Look at this crowd here today. Look at all of India watching on. You may need someone just to calm the team,” he added.
One of Gill's decisions that left Hussain quite amazed was when he asked Akash Deep to change his end on Day 5 despite the fact that the seamer had picked up two important wickets while bowling from the other end during the previous day. Hussain felt that this was a call that most captains wouldn't have even thought of, but Gill managed to implement it perfectly. The decision also proved to be beneficial for India as Akash Deep went on to take six wickets in the final innings, playing a major role in the Men in Blue's emphatic victory.
“He did some subtle things that we wouldn't do. Akash Deep bowled beautifully this end. This morning we thought he was going to start this end. He started him up at the end, and it worked. So there were tactical things that he did in the game as well that really worked,” Hussain stated.
With the series now being very evenly poised, the next match at Lord's will be highly important for both the sides and it will be quite interesting to see who manages to come out on top and take a valuable lead before the fourth Test. The third match of the series is set to commence from July 10.