Shubman Gill Must Score Big Runs in England To Earn Captain’s Stripes

Shubman Gill loves the camera. The feeling is mutual. The 25-year-old showed his six-pack off on his travels just days after Rohit Sharma’s Test team defeated England 4-1 at home in 2024. Gill scored over 450 runs in those five matches, averaging 56.

The return series in England starts on Friday and much has changed in 15 months. The selfies may have to stop. India are no longer the Invincibles at home, having been whitewashed by New Zealand. Rohit’s creaking team were then overrun in Australia. They have lost some great men in the battle against time. Gill has been installed as the new captain and will be tested as a man, a player and a leader.

The last time India’s cricketers rocked up at Headingley – the venue for the first Test against Ben Stokes’s team – they were bowled out for 78 in just over 40 overs. Whispers over Virat Kohli’s decline were gaining traction while Rohit crawled to a painful 19 off 105 balls. A 21-year-old Gill missed the match with a stress injury.

Rohit and Kohli retired from Tests before the squad for the England tour was announced. Both men struggled with reflexes and runs down under during the 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar series. It was time to move on from the original Bollywood batsmen, however painful the transition to the more raw stock of cricket’s global superpower.

Gill did his own superhero voiceover for the Hindi and Punjabi versions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, in 2023. That was the year where almost everything turned to gold. He’s hung out with Ed Sheeran and even bowled to the musician. Gill is the kind of Gen Z eye candy that cricket needs, especially as Kohli is urging youngsters to prioritize the Test match format.

Even without Brand Kohli, India still dominates the Test landscape. New ICC president Jay Shah will convene the annual conference next month in Singapore with the BCCI currently taking almost 39 per cent of annual revenue to dwarf the other Big Two of Test cricket, Australia and England. India is the megabeast and money tree that controls the international cricket garden.

While Kohli lives on in white-ball vision only, English conditions are notoriously challenging for the Indians. They haven’t won in England since 2007. The heatwave that the United Kingdom is currently experiencing could nullify the Yorkshire ground’s swing movement to some extent, but it will be a huge challenge for the green talent of India’s young twentysomethings.

Gill’s bat has been inscribed with ‘Prince’ and there was never any doubt that he has been primed to take the throne as India’s next best thing. KL Rahul has the local knowledge to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal’s flair, while a rebuilt Rishabh Pant will try to impart responsibility and high revs in the middle order.

Dhruv Jurel, IPL star Sai Sudharsan and star of the Melbourne Test, Nitish Kumar Reddy are fighting over the remaining places. Ironically, 33-year-old veteran Karun Nair could get the No. 3 spot after his double century for India A against the Lions. Gill is batting where Tendulkar and Virat used to tread at no. 4. The fear of failure isn’t really an option.

India may well have the edge in the bowling department as they possess the best paceman in the ICC Rankings, Jasprit Bumrah, alongside Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav. Ravi Jadeja is still doing a sterling dual job of solidifying the batting and covering for the loss of his namesake R Ashwin who retired last year.

Gill has already led from the front with the Gujarat Titans after being installed as skipper in the 2024 Indian Premier League. He was vice-captain for the Indian Under-19s in the 2018 World Cup and won the Player of the Tournament award.

One man who has seen him at close quarters is Jos Buttler. The English star spoke about his teammate in glowing terms on the For the Love of Cricket podcast. “He’s a really impressive player and an impressive young man. I feel like, on the field he’s got a bit of fight about him — a bit of intensity, quite passionate. I think he’ll be a mix of Kohli and Rohit.”

Buttler also added that Gill will be his own man, a self-discovery mission that began against Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood at the MCG in 2021. Gill said it was “like going into a war.” His 91 in the defining Test of the series at Brisbane was as cool and collected as they come. Pant provided the thrill a minute hitting to make the big headlines, but the Punjabi right-hander demonstrated Federer-like grace and timing.

The only question is whether leading a mix of young guns and the old guard might prove challenging when Gill is still trying to flourish on different shores. His overseas average in New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and England comes to just under 26 with two fifties in 11 Tests. That includes four relative failures in both World Test Championships that India played – and lost -at Lord’s and Southampton. His modest Test average of 35 is 24 points below his majestic ODI record.

When Jimmy Anderson appeared on the BBC’s Tailenders podcast, he recounted some banter with India’s new star during the 2024 Dharamsala Test.

“I said something to him like, ‘Do you get any runs outside India?’ and he said, ‘It’s time to retire. Then two balls later, I got him out,” said the England veteran. What Anderson doesn’t mention was that the batsman was on 110 at the time.

Shubman Gill won’t have to worry about the sledging if he can average half of that number.