India’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka got underway on Saturday (August 15) in Galle. It is an extremely crucial series for Shubman Gill’s men as they face an uphill task to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
India currently sit fifth in the WTC standings, holding 52 points and a points percentage (PCT) of 48.15%. They need to win six or seven of their remaining nine Test matches in the current cycle to secure a spot for the title clash.
While the task at hand looks to be monumental, Australian legend Matthew Hayden has backed captain Gill to navigate this challenging phase with flying colors.
"I guess in many ways India as a cricketing nation has also had a brilliant captain in Shubman Gill. He has many challenges to face, none of which is more important than the survival of Test match cricket," Hayden told ANI.
"And I feel India are in a much better position to continue their winning ways in the short formats, 50-over in particular, and T20 cricket, and they do have some work to do as most nations do in and around their Test and longer formats," he said.
"So I'm sure Shubman Gill will be up to that challenge. He's a wonderful young man and a good leader, and he's got a good team around him, albeit a team that's going to need to perform, some younger players and some more experienced players. But they've got a job to do ahead of the World Test Championship final, which is in June next year," he added.
Having observed Gill's leadership qualities firsthand while serving as the batting coach for the Gujarat Titans during the 2026 IPL season.
Under Gill’s captaincy, the franchise marched to the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium. They finished as runners-up after Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the match by 5 wickets to retain their title.
Hayden also commented on how the current Indian team compares with the star-studded sides of previous eras, featuring legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
"I think that good cricketers are good cricketers. It doesn't matter whether you're comparing the times of the Bradman era, the times of Sachin Tendulkar, the Sourav Ganguly era. The full member nation teams are always full of very good cricketers," Hayden said.
He added, "What we're seeing now in Indian cricket is a fantastic young group of players who have much to prove across all formats of the game."
Hayden highlighted India's mixed 2025-2027 WTC cycle, pointing to their sub-50% win rate as proof of how hard it is to stay on top in Test cricket.
"And when you look at things like the World Test Championship, where the relevance of Test match cricket is prioritised because of the point system, you see that India in spite of being a great team, has a winning percentage of less than 50%. You know, they've played nine games in this World Test Championship (WTC) calendar, and they've lost four and won four, and they've had one draw," he said.
He also stressed the importance of India's role in sustaining the longer format. "And largely the success of the IPL has been borne, as I mentioned before, on the success of the shorter formats of the game," Hayden remarked.
(With ANI Inputs)
