Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes that the promotion of SHUBMAN GILLA to the Indian Captain of the test comes with other challenges and feels that the young dough will be better to move to No. 4 in the ranking series during the challenging series of five tests in England.
“His form of white ball was incredibly good. He has a little work on his test batting. And it’s never easy when you are a new captain to take care of your launch to the extent that it will be easy for him,” Ponting said during IPL, training Punjab Kings for the finals.
Gill, who launched his test career as an opener, has been in recent months in 3rd place. With the additional burden of the captain, Ponting feels that it is reasonable to protect him slightly in the order of tabs.
“India has made the right investment in Captain Gill,” he said. “Actually, I named him a captain for a test match in Sydney last summer, when Rohit didn’t play the game and above Bumrah was a little wounded cloud, or as this game continued, Bumhrah really collapsed in this game.
“And look, I don’t know so well to SHUBMAN. I talked to him six, eight, 10 times, maybe the last few years around various things and around the launching and around the lead. With GT (Gujarat Titans), he did a great job, no doubt,” he added.
“But it seemed to be a kind of guy who wouldn’t get too much too much. He seems to have a really head on his shoulders. It’s someone who will be in the Indian cricket for another 10 years.”
In her 32-test career Gill showed Flair, but also a tendency to play with a hard hand-Vyv, who often led to his fall in challenging conditions. Especially his defensive game came under control.
Ponting believes that this problem is more mental than technical. “… it’s a bit of both, there are some of the great test players who didn’t have great defensive games (Viender) Sehwag is probably a great example.
“But if you have control of your story, you don’t have to worry about your defense.
Ponting does not see a big defect in Gill’s technology, but warned against garbage in focus. “(But) I think sometimes you could just get a little in front of you or a little lazy in the middle of the test match. You can’t afford it.
“I think that’s a challenge for SHUBMAN …” Ponting said.
Ponting has Gill slot at number four in its XI for the Leeds Opening Test, depending on the top order composition.
“… The reason I did it was if they went with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, and if Sai Sudarshan is the second opening, they need someone a little more experienced in the third.
“… As soon as you grow up, you can move back to this place number three,” Ponting said, supporting Gill to eventually gain a more distinctive position in the order of launching as he grows in his leading role.
Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
June 5, 2025
Tune
