Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed India captain Shubman Gill following a heated exchange with England's openers during the third Test at Lord's in the ongoing five-match series.
Late on Day 3, when England took their time starting their second innings, Gill got into a heated disagreement with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley on the field. India intended to bowl two overs before stumps after matching England's first-innings score of 387, but they were disappointed.
After reviewing the episode, Ponting informed Sanjana Ganesan that while he was taken aback by Gill's aggression, he could see why.
"That was a little out of character from what I've known of Shubman in the past. I am sure everyone that was there watching it, and I know you would know him quite well, that's not what he's generally like,” Ponting said on the ICC Review show.
"That's the captain standing up for his team; that's a captain really wanting to show that it's his team now and this is the way that we're going to play the game, and also, I guess, wanting to give a little bit back,” he added.
Ponting, who has captained Australia in England, said the pressure of playing there can be intense.
“The UK can be a hard place to play. The crowds, as much as they love their game, can be as hostile a place to play as anywhere in the world. The media there, when you're in a big series, when it's an Ashes series or when it's England and India, the media always feel like they're right on top of your back as well,” Ponting opined.
He also compared Gill’s leadership approach to that of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
“I think that's him starting to put his stamp on his team. And a lot like Virat did, similar ways like that. Rohit probably was never as outwardly aggressive, I guess, especially to opposition players.
I know he would quite often get aggressive with his teammates and try to bring the best out of them that way. But I loved watching Shubman stand up for what he thought was right in the game last week,” he added.
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