Gujarat Titans (GT) assistant coach Aashish Kapoor has shared his point of view on Shubman Gill potentially becoming the India Test captain. Under Gill, GT has done extremely well and became the first team to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs after defeating DC in Delhi on May 19.
According to Gujarat Titans assistant coach Aashish Kapoor, Shubman Gill is a "thinking cricketer," but it is hard to say if he would be able to duplicate his performance as captain in the T20 format in the Test format if given control of the Indian squad.
"If you see Shubman as a batsman, or basically as a cricketer, whether he's a good thinker or not, I think he's a good thinker of his own game.
I've seen him since the Under-16 days. In fact, I've done two camps with him at the NCA. Even back then, he used his brain a lot more than many others his age. And that's a key quality for a captain — to not just think for yourself but for the ten other players as well, and plan how to win matches,” Kapoor said at the post-match press conference on Sunday night.
The new Test skipper is anticipated to be announced this week, and India will begin a five-Test series in England on June 20 in Leeds.
When asked how Gill may perform as a red-ball captain if given the chance, Kapoor responded that it is challenging to assess leadership potential based on insufficient experience.
"I'm not an astrologer. We're watching him lead in T20 cricket, but when Dhoni was named captain for the World Cup (in 2007), he hadn't captained anywhere. Nobody knew back then that he'd go on to become one of the world's best captains.
If you had asked someone at that time — even Dhoni himself — what they thought of his captaincy, there would've been no answer. You have to observe a player over some time before making any judgment. Shubman hasn't even started yet, so it's very difficult to say,” Kapoor added.
Kapoor also praised Sai Sudharsan for sticking to the traditional cricketing strokes, which helped him emerge as the top run-getter this IPL season.
"I think they understand the game well themselves. They're smart cricketers, smart kids. Sure, you have to keep telling them sometimes, but he analyses his own game. He wants to attack.
If you see, even his attacking shots are stillwithin boundaries. If he gets that one ball, which is short or something, he gets a six. But the rest are proper cricket, attacking shots along the ground. He's more aware to play these shots at the start of his innings, the percentage was less last year, which has become better this year,” he added.
(ANI inputs)
