Shubman Gill said he has taken inspiration from former captains, including Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, and that he looks up to T20 World Cup-winning skipper, Rohit Sharma. Gill spoke about captaincy and handling pressure as the leader of the team after overseeing India’s 4-1 win over Zimbabwe in a recently-concluded T20I series. It did not begin well for Gill as India lost the series opener to Zimbabwe in Harare in a shock result. However, it all ended well for the Men in Blue who celebrated another trophy triumph, this time in Harare.
Speaking after the series triumph, Gill did not shy away from conceding that he felt pressure at the start of the tour, but ended the series with a lot of satisfaction.
“You can take qualities from Rohit bhai or even Mahi bhai, Virat bhai, Hardik bhai, all of them,” he said. “All of them have great qualities. I have played the most under Rohit bhai, so he is someone who I look up to and really enjoy playing under,” Shubman Gill said.
Gill had headed into the series on the back of a disappointing season as the captain of Gujarat Titans in the IPL. The young opener was not able to emulate Hadik Pandya’s success with the franchise in IPL 2024 and he had to deal with the disappointment of missing out on the T20 World Cup squad.
However, the 24-year-old put the disappointments behind him and made the most of the opportunity to lead the second-string side on their tour of Zimbabwe. Gill not only led the team to victory, but also top-scored with the bat, scoring 170 runs in five matches. Gill hit two important fifties in the third and fourth T20Is and proved his mettle at the top of the order.
While Hardik Pandya is the frontrunner to replace Rohit Sharma as the T20I captain, India are not short of options. And Shubman’s Zimbabwe audition is something that the seletors will keep in mind, going forward.
“It (captaincy) is something that I definitely enjoy. I think it brings out the best in me when I am out there because I look to be involved in the game. It is something that really brings out the side of me which I enjoy being on the field.”
“There was pressure, I wouldn’t say extra pressure but obviously even when you are playing just as a batsman when you don’t perform there is a certain kind of pressure that comes along with it. But I think that’s the fun part of it. You kind of feel so many different emotions. Pressure is one of them. And when you get out of that, the satisfaction that you feel is immense,” he added.
India won the final T20I by 42 runs in Harare on Sunday after Sanju Samson’s 58 and Mukesh Kumar’s four-wicket haul.
