New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS): India head coach Gautam Gambhir believes the most impressive aspect of Shubman Gill’s rapid evolution as the side’s ODI skipper is how he has transformed into a bowlers’ captain, while revealing that he has earned immense respect in the dressing room.
Gambhir’s glowing assessment came after India completed a historic 406-run chase against the West Indies to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series in Guwahati. It also made India the only second team in the format’s history to successfully hunt down a 400-plus target, with Gill leading the charge by hitting an unbeaten 223, including now holding the record for the fastest double ton in men’s ODIs – coming in 117 balls.
“I’m not going to talk about his records because records are meant to be broken. But I think the responsibility that he’s taken, because a lot of times we feel that once you become a captain of two formats, you don’t want your performance to go down, but his performance has only gone up since he took over as a captain in England.
“Since then, we’ve seen the evolution of Shubman, not only in white-ball cricket, but in red-ball cricket as well. He’s got a great future ahead if he keeps his head down. He ticks all the boxes, he’s a nice guy, he’s got a lot of respect in the dressing room, people listen to him and, more importantly, his performances are showing as well.
“And the most impressive thing that I think of him is that he’s becoming a bowlers’ captain. He knows how difficult it is for the bowlers in this format, and once you do that, you will always earn that respect in the dressing room,” said Gambhir to JioStar.
Gill will have a chance to make the series scoreline 3-0 when India take on the West Indies in the final ODI in his home ground, the new PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh on Saturday. Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar also praised top-ranked ODI batter Gill’s composure under pressure and likened his focused approach to that of Sir Don Bradman.
“Yes, Shubman is going to be the man who’s going to show the current and the next generation how to bat in what situations, how to keep your cool, how to pace your chase. What we saw in this game was just incredible. 406 runs to chase, never easy.
“It really was a superb innings, a captain’s innings. He wanted to be, as a captain, right there till the end and finish it himself. That is the hallmark of really great players. And that’s exactly what leadership is all about. Be there right till the end. He deals with every ball as if it’s the first ball that he’s facing. That was the secret of Sir Don Bradman’s batting.
“Sir Don Bradman used to say that every ball that he faced, even if he was batting on 200-plus, he played thinking as if he was on zero, as if it was his first ball. And I think that’s exactly what you see with Shubman Gill, one of the reasons why you see him play risk-free cricket, and he’s got this wide range of shots,” added Gavaskar.
