Former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has showered rich praise on young batter Shubman Gill, who seems to have been earmarked as India’s future captain by the team management.
The 24-year-old led India’s second-string team to 4-1 victory in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe earlier this month. He will serve as the deputy to Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma in the T20I and ODI tour of Sri Lanka, starting on July 27.
Karthik hailed Shubman as a hard-working kid and stated that the latter has a potential to do well as a skipper.
“He’s been around in international cricket for some time, and he knows how to handle pressure. So why not? He is a vice captain, and I believe he has the potential; if he keeps working on his batting and the fact that he can improve a lot more as a captain over the years, he has the potential to do well as a skipper as well,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz’s Hey CB with DK show.
“This year, he started for Gujarat (Titans), and he was not bad, but he knows that it’s a little bit of work to put in on and off the field, and he’ll be working towards that. The one thing about Shubman Gill is that he’s a really hardworking kid, and that is going to stand them in good stead for the future,” he added.
Shubman Gill was preferred over the likes of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya for India’s white-ball vice-captaincy for the Sri Lanka series.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Gill is set to replace Jasprit Bumrah as India’s Test vice-captain. He will assume the role from the red-ball series against Bangladesh at home in September.
Addressing the media before the team’s departure to Sri Lanka earlier this week, chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained why Shubman Gill is groomed as the next leader.
"Shubman is a guy we feel is a three-format player, firstly. And he seems to show a lot of good qualities over the last year or so. That's why we wanted to have somebody who can also learn from a couple of senior guys who are there. Surya is there. Rohit is still around. We don't face the same challenge again -- suddenly try and look for a new captain in case there is an injury or loss of form. That's the idea again. He has shown some decent leadership qualities. So we want him to get some experience and build going forward. There are no guarantees in life, but at this point, that's how it looks," Agarkar told reporters.
