Ex-India ’keeper-batter Chandrakant Pandit feels Gill-led batting group should ignore individual scores and spend maximum time in the middle to understand Headingley pitch
Chandrakant Pandit
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman and Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit wants India’s young captain Shubman Gill to lead the team in the five-Test series against England without thinking about the absence of star players and former skippers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who recently retired from the longest format.
Gill, 25, who has represented the country in 32 Tests, previously led the national side in a five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe last July and currently leads Gujarat Titans in the IPL. However, this time he will be facing a much tougher task as he takes on the captain’s responsibility in Test cricket for the first time in a major series, starting at Leeds on June 20.
“In the absence of the experienced Virat and Rohit there is a challenge for Gill to spend more time in the middle, to score runs and shoulder the responsibility [as captain]. And because some of the other players are new players, he may try to change his natural game. But my advice to him is that he should not do that, because he will then be taking unnecessary pressure upon himself. And due to this pressure, he may go into a shell,” Pandit told mid-day on Saturday. Pandit, 63, who has helped Mumbai, Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh win Ranji Trophy titles, felt that this is a good opportunity for Gill to extract a good performance from his young side. “I feel there is a great opportunity for Shubman, as a captain, where, without having experienced players or stalwarts, he can lead a new, young team and inspire them to give their best to win the series. This will be a very competitive series for the young Indian team and will definitely do well in England,” added Pandit.
Interestingly, Pandit, who made his Test debut against Mike Gatting’s England in the 1986 Leeds Test which Kapil Dev’s team won by 279 runs, cautioned Gill & Co about the pacer-friendly Headingley pitch. “Firstly, there will definitely be pressure on the youngsters [like Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran] who will be playing a Test in England for the first time or for someone like Karun Nair who is playing after a long gap. The other pressure is about playing the moving ball at Leeds. The Indian players need to have self-belief. They need to realise that they are good enough and that’s why they are playing for the country. If batters spend time in the middle, they will get to know how to play at Headingley and automatically they will be able to counter the swing. If you think only about scoring runs, it will affect your game,” Pandit signed off.
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