Follow UsIndia’s newest Test captain, Shubman Gill, has got his priorities straight and sorted. Ahead of the much-awaited five-match Test series against England, India’s generational talent Gill made it clear that winning a series in SENA conditions is far more valuable than winning an IPL.
Gill, as a player, has only won one series away from home, the 2020 Test series against Australia Down Under, where he played a crucial knock in the Gabba win. Barring that, however, Gill hasn’t made any impact in India’s other SENA visits, which puts a lot of pressure on him in his maiden captaincy stint.
“Definitely the Test series in my opinion. You don’t get many opportunities as a captain to be able to come to England. Maybe 2; if you are the best of your generation, maybe 3,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference.
“The IPL comes every year and you have a crack at it every year. So in my opinion, winning a Test series in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are bigger,” Gill added.
Gill revealed that he’s quite ‘excited’ about the opportunity of leading the talented Indian side, and will have his task cut out, as the Men in Blue aim to win their first series in England since 2007.
“It’s the biggest honour a player can get. Captaining your country, especially in a Test series is something that not many people have the opportunity. I am very excited about the opportunity.
England is a tough place, and there’s a reason why India haven’t won there since 2007. So, what are the factors that affect touring teams in England?
“Dukes ball, that’s number one. The weather which is always changing, that’s exciting and tough. And just the atmosphere of the crowd,” Gill said.
Gill echoed Virat Kohli’s thoughts as a Test captain, admitting that you need to take ‘20 wickets’ to win a Test, and they will abide by it, even if it means playing four proper fast bowlers.
"You can't win a Test match without taking 20 wickets, no matter how many runs you have scored. So, that has been one of our key discussion points, you know, how we're gonna take 20 wickets. And there might be a case, you know, where we could only be going with some pure batters and you could see a bowling allrounder and three to four premier fast bowlers or proper bowlers."
Will the 26-year-old be too fazed about batting as a captain?
"Honestly, when I want to go out there and bat, I just want to play as a batsman, not really want to think that I'm the captain of the team because I think that sometimes puts too much pressure on you," Gill said. "Whenever I'm going out there, I want to play as a batsman and want to want to dominate the opposition and be the best batsman in the series, and that's what I'm trying to look at."
India begin their new journey under Gill on June 20 (Friday) against England in Headingley, Leeds.