Shubman Gill’s astonishing performance with the bat in his first ever Test series as captain of the Indian team seems to have resulted in everybody accepting for now that he is the future leader of the side in all three formats. However, for that to remain the case, Gill will need to prove himself as a consistent performer in all formats, something he hasn’t quite managed to do regularly in his career. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan says that the 25-year-old will bat with a point to prove during the 2025 Asia Cup.
Gill has been made vice-captain of the team under Suryakumar Yadav. His inclusion also means that he will be taking a place in the top order, thus resulting in the ommission of either Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma, both of whom have been exceptional in the role. “What we have seen this season, the way he played, the amount of runs he scored in last few seasons in the IPL as well. Now the Indian team has gone to (scoring at) higher strike rate,” Pathan is quoted as saying by PTI.
“They want to just be very aggressive. I don’t think so there will be an issue for Gill to start playing (an) aggressive role and do what team demands of him. More than anyone else in this group, Gill will go there and try to prove a point in terms of playing aggressive cricket. He has the ability and he has got a lot of range,” he added. Gill has been one of the top performers in the IPL for the past few years. Captain of the Gujarat Titans, Gill has scored 3866 runs at a strike rate of 138.72 with four centuries and 26 half-centuries.
Suryakumar’s responsibility is also to grow leadership
Suryakumar Yadav returns as India’s T20 captain when the Asia Cup begins next month. With Gill waiting in the wings, Pathan feels that the former’s promotion to vice-captain couldn’t have happened without Suryakumar’s constent. “Shubman Gill being selected as vice-captain could not have happened without the constent of Suryakumar Yadav,” Pathan said in an interaction organised by Sony Sports.
“His (Suryakumar’s) responsibility is not only to perform, not only to actually look after the team, but at the same time grow leadership, grow the team and he has started (doing) that. People might think that puts pressure on him, but what he is doing, it’s actually doing world of good to Indian cricket in the long term and it will put Suryakumar Yadav (as) a proper leader who is respected, especially in the cricketing community,” he said.
