India’s new Test captain, Shubman Gill, recently spoke about the valuable lessons he learned while playing under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Reflecting on his time in the format, Gill highlighted Kohli’s proactive style as a key leadership trait he intends to adopt during the upcoming England tour.
Though Gill made his Test debut under Ajinkya Rahane, he featured in six matches with Kohli as captain. After Kohli stepped down in 2022, Gill faced some difficulty securing a regular place in the Test side despite an impressive start to his career.
During a conversation with Dinesh Karthik on Sky Sports, Shubman Gill was asked about his experiences under different leaders. He noted that one of Kohli’s standout qualities is his adaptability and flexibility in planning. The 25-year-old added:
“Yes, definitely a lot of things when I played under Virat Bhai. I think his proactiveness in the Test matches with the field or with the ideas or with his thinking was something that I liked and I picked that up – he was very proactive with his thinking.”
“If he thinks that okay this plan is not working he would immediately have another plan communicate to the bowler that what he wants from them and can seem like he is not aggressive.”
“It’s not personal” – Gill on Rohit Sharma’s on-field outbursts
Gill explained that while Rohit Sharma often uses strong language with players, it’s not meant personally and is always intended to motivate the team and help them perform better.
“But Rohit bhai is also very aggressive in terms of his tactics he’s a tactically, he’s quite an aggressive captain and he is someone who is very clear with his communication prior to the matches during the series and even after the series what he wants from the players and the kind of environment.”
“I think Rohit keeps like even if Rohit is swearing at you, you would not take it to your heart that’s just kind of his personality. I think that’s a great trait to have you know, but even if he’s being hard on you, you know that he it’s not coming from his heart it’s coming from a team perspective.”
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