India Test captain Shubman Gill faced a lot of criticism after the team's narrow defeat in the third Test match against England at the iconic Lord's Stadium in England. The visitors failed to chase down a mere total of 192 runs as Ben Stokes-led side registered a 22-run win to take a 2-1 lead in the five-Test match series.
Gill, who is currently the highest run-getter after three Tests of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, arrived at Lord's with three centuries, turned one of them into his career best 269 and 458 runs from two Tests. However, he failed to replicate his past success, returning with scores of 16 and 6.
India have already lost two of the first three matches of the series. Ahead of their 4th Test match in Manchester, which will start on July 23, Harbhajan Singh backs the Indian team and its captain, stating that the lessons learnt in this series will help the young Test team become a world-beater in the future.
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"Results do not define how good the team has been. I have said before this tour as well, do not judge this team too early or too often. This is a young team that can turn into a world-beater. The match that they won in Birmingham - that was incredible. India could have won at Lord's as well; they were quite close. And this team will learn a lot from this series. And the lessons they will take from this series, they will use to their favour in the future. We should not judge them too quickly," Harbhajan Singh said in an exclusive interview to IndiaToday.
Harbhajan also backed Gill's captaincy and believes that the young batter has the mettle to become a pillar of Indian cricket for many years to come.
"Shubman Gill is a big player, and he will be the pillar of the Indian team for many years to come. How many Indian batters have come and stamped their authority in England? He definitely has the capability, and I never doubted his credentials for a moment in international cricket. His basics are so good. His father has worked so much on him. He has made Shubman repeat his drills at least a thousand times. And you can see that when he plays the ball," Harbhajan said.
Harbhajan said that Shubman needed time to figure out his own leadership style, which would help him become the best version of himself.
"Everyone's methods are different. Their natures are different, their personalities are different. Shubman Gill cannot be Ganguly or Virat or Dhoni. They are all different. He needs to be the best version of himself, and he has that ability. And he will learn. I am telling you, Shubman will not only lead India well - he will take Indian cricket right to the top of the world," the spinner concluded.