Shubman Gill will walk out in Delhi this week carrying yet another captain’s armband. Test skipper since May, T20I vice-captain and, from later this month in Australia, the man in charge of India’s one-day side – he now fronts all three dressing-rooms. It is a rarity in the modern schedule, and he knows the price.
“Physically, most of the time, I feel fine, but sometimes, yes, there is mental fatigue, because when you are constantly playing, there is obviously a certain expectation that I have from myself, and to be able to keep up with my own expectations sometimes becomes the challenge,” he admitted on the eve of the second West Indies Test.
The selectors, and a few television voices such as Aakash Chopra, have already urged caution, arguing that the 26-year-old will need planned breathers if he is to last the next cycle. Gill, though, sees the heavy load as the route to his wider ambitions. “I want to play all the formats and succeed in all the formats… if I want to do that, then this is the challenge I have to go through.”
Key change at the top
Gill replaces Rohit Sharma in 50-over cricket, which means he will soon be captaining both Rohit and Virat Kohli when India travel to Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. With the pair in their mid-thirties and no longer active in Tests or T20Is, there is inevitable speculation about how long they stay in the ODI frame. Gill was unequivocal:
“Absolutely,” he said when asked whether the senior pair remain central. “The experience the two of them have [is immense], and there are very few players who can match the number of matches they have won for India. There are very few players in the world with such skill and quality along with that experience, and we look at it from that perspective.”
Those words will come as reassurance to fans wary of a hard reset only two years out from the next 50-over World Cup.
Rapid rise, quick reset
Since taking the Test job Gill has piled up runs – 754 of them at 75.40 during the English summer alone – and yet he insists that period is already boxed away. “[The ODI captaincy] is obviously is a big responsibility and an even bigger honour, so I’m very excited to lead my country in that format, and yes, the last few months have been very exciting for me, but I’m really looking forward to what the future has,” he explained. “I want to stay [in the] present as [much as] possible and don’t really want to look back on what I’ve been able to achieve or what we, as a team, have been able to achieve. Just want to look forward and win everything that we have in the upcoming months.”
Managing the mental load
Workload has become the stickiest issue in international cricket. Fast bowlers have spoken about it for a decade; now the captains are feeling the squeeze. Gill’s own assessment is blunt: “The challenge is to stay on top for five days in a Test match, and that is more difficult than captaining in a T20 game.” Even so, he does not view stepping back from any format as a solution. Instead, he talks about smarter recovery blocks and clearer role definition inside each squad.
Selectors will doubtless monitor the numbers. From December to March India are pencilled in for nine Tests, six ODIs and a tri-series of T20Is. It would be a stretch for any cricketer, never mind one who opens the batting and leads the side. Rotation – once a dirty word – now feels inevitable.
Analytical bit, minus the jargon
Gill’s success so far has come from a relatively orthodox method: high left elbow, crisp transfer through the ball and, crucially, very little fuss. Statisticians note that he scores at 3.4 runs an over in Tests and 6.0 in ODIs, which places him among the more adaptable top-order batters. The question is whether that fluency endures when the admin-heavy side of captaincy – field settings every other ball, endless media, sponsor days – bites into his practice time.
Coaching staff, for their part, argue that his temperament is their main comfort blanket. “He doesn’t spike,” one assistant said off-the-record in Visakhapatnam last month, hinting at a fairly even emotional keel. India will hope that holds true if results turn.
Looking ahead
First assignment as ODI captain: Australia, where Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will test the front pad and the nerve. Then a home series against New Zealand and, come February, a five-Test contest in South Africa. It is, even by recent standards, a packed itinerary.
Gill knows the script. He repeats that he wants “to look forward and win everything” – lofty, yes, but hardly outlandish for a player who already has a World Test Championship mace in the bag. Whether the body, and perhaps more importantly the mind, can follow that script across three formats remains the subplot to watch.
For now, India have their all-format captain, and he has his immediate task: keep the runs flowing, share the leadership load with his senior pros and, when possible, grab the odd day off. The margin for error is thin; the potential reward – complete control of his cricketing destiny – is obvious.
