Former England captain Nasser Hussain has taken a different tone from his earlier remarks about newly appointed Indian captain Shubman Gill following India’s loss at Leeds.
After that defeat, Hussain had questioned Gill’s presence as a leader on the field while speaking on Sky Sports.
“I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You’ve got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he’s taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn’t quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there,” Hussain had said.
However, following India’s historic win at Edgbaston, Hussain acknowledged a visible improvement in Gill’s on-field presence during the second Test. He praised how Gill looked in control, particularly with his field placements.
“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 told Sky Sports.
Hussain also pointed out that Gill’s personality is quite different from that of Virat Kohli. He believes Gill’s calm nature could actually be a strength for the team.
“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.
Nasser also praised the way Gill handled his bowlers, especially Akash Deep. “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,” he said.
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