India vs England series: Shubman Gill looks to thrive in his crown of thorns

It’s the proverbial crown of thorns that new captain Shubman Gill will be wearing when he walks out for the toss with Ben Stokes for the first Test at Leeds in Headingley on Friday, 20 June. The post of a Indian captain, as they say in zest, is the secondmost important job in the country after the Prime Minister – while it’s now official that he will take over the No.4 spot left vacant by Virat Kohli.

A challenge which the 25-year-old, the fifth youngest Test captain of India, must relish rather than being bogged down by it. The biggest plus for this largely inexperienced team – as they begin a new cycle of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle – is expectations are low as the team does not have two stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Ravi Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah’s limited availability.

If that’s not enough, there is no Mohammed Shami – the seasoned campaigner who could have been a handful for the England batters under helpful conditions. Gill, for all the class and visual delight that he provides in full flow, has a modest average overseas and there are doubters as to whether his technique of playing on the rise on seaming wickets will yield the desired results. It does make a lot of difference to a captain’s approach if he is among the runs or not – just rewind and think about Rohit’s body language during the last tour Down Under.

There is also a lot of curiosity as to the kind of leadership style Gill is going to adapt. While captaining a IPL side may have it’s pressure of expectations, the difference between that and leading a Test side is like chalk-and-cheese – with the later calling for a far greater tactical nousse, especially when things are not going your way. From what one saw of him as the captain of Gujarat Titans for past two seasons (again a bit of surprise choice after original captain Hardik Pandya traded himself to Mumbai Indians), Gill seemed a fast learner as he looked more assured in 2025 season and did not let the captaincy bog down his batting.

A theory often heard is to how a batter-captain has to learn to segregate his roles in order to succeed in both, though it’s a job easier said than done. This is an area where Gill can pick the brains of Kohli, whose best years as a batter came when he was a captain in all formats, with a golden period between 2016 and 2018 during which he had scored 3596 runs in 35 Tests at a whopping average of 66.59 with 14 centuries.

This, however, is not to suggest that Gill invites additional pressure on the job  – but rather be his own man despite the presence of Gautam Gambhir as a coach. Much like Gill and his new look team, the high profile head coach will be under no less scrutiny after two nightmarish Test series under him which ended in a 3-0 whitewash at home against the Kiwis and a 3-1 rout at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Speaking at his first press conference on the eve of their departure, Gill announced: ‘’My style of captaincy will be my own, it will develop with experience.’’ That’s as best as it can get for an opening line as Gill’s personality is devoid of the unwarranted aggro that one would associate with a Kohli or the laidback demeanour of a Rohit Sharma. He, however, doesn’t shy away from trying to get beneath the skin of the rivals – ask Jimmy Anderson.

A galaxy of former greats like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri or Sourav Ganguly are all unanimous that Gill may need time to settle into the new role. At 25 and with an international career of only five years behind him, he certainly has that in plenty.

 Catch the Match

 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

 First Test: England vs India

 Leeds, Headingley

 Match starts from 3.30 pm IST