Gill driven by challenge of all-format presence

In the fast-paced world of Indian cricket, the spotlight now firmly sits on Shubman Gill. He was appointed the Test captain in May, got back into the T20I side as vice-captain before the Asia Cup in September, and has just been entrusted with leadership of the 50-over outfit ahead of three ODIs against Australia later this month.

The announcement of Gill’s ascent in ODIs came at the end of India’s win in the first Test against West Indies in Ahmedabad last week. In his first media interaction since the change of leadership became public, the 26-year-old shared his thoughts on the honour.

“It is obviously a big responsibility. I’m very excited to lead my country in that format and, yes, the last few months have been very exciting. I’m really looking forward to what the future has. I just want to win everything we have in the upcoming months,” he told the media.

Gill’s all-format presence means he will have a lot on his plate in the near future. Asked about the physical and mental toll it could take, he responded: “More than physically… sometimes there is mental fatigue because when you are constantly playing, there is a certain expectation that I have for myself and to be able to keep up with my own expectations sometimes becomes a challenge. That’s the challenge of being able to play all formats. I want to succeed in all the formats and win ICC titles. If I want to do that, then this is the challenge I have to go through.”

How much will his captaincy in ODIs differ from his style in Tests? “Captaincy in red-ball and white-ball cricket isn’t the same. In Tests, the better team does win at the end of the day. The challenge is to stay on top for five days in a Test and that is more difficult than captaining in a T20 game,” he said.