A day after being appointed as India’s Test captain by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Shubman Gill has opened up about what it means to lead the team in the longest and most difficult format of the game. Gill, who is 26, doesn’t have much experience of captaincy in international cricket but he’s played under two of India’s best skippers in Tests.
Playing under Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli
Although Gill made his debut under Ajinkya Rahane at Melbourne in 2020, that was Virat Kohli’s team. Not long after, Rohit Sharma took over. So, Gill has played under them all along. And has learnt a massive deal from them. Gill considers himself lucky and wants to work on the common goal they both had, which was Team India winning.
“I have been very fortunate to play with Virat and Rohit bhai. Both (as captains) were very contrasting in their style. But it was inspiring for them to work towards a common goal. They were very different but also similar in their own sense,” Gill told BCCI.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬
Calm in mindset
Fearless in intent
Presenting #TeamIndia’s new Test Captain — Shubman Gill#ShubmanGill | #TestCricket | #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/jitL8KUd4c
— Indian Cricket Team (@incricketteam) May 25, 2025
Differences as Test captains
Despite their success, their methods were very different. Gill feels that Kohli always wore his heart on his sleeve. He was at the opposition and wanted to win on every ball. Whereas Rohit was more laid-back. This didn’t mean that Rohit wasn’t aggressive, but he didn’t show it as often as Kohli did.
“Virat bhai was always very aggressive and wanted to lead from the front with hunger and passion. Rohit bhai is also aggressive but you might not see it by his reaction or expression. He’s very calm and tactically always present. He’s very communicative to the players as to what he wants,” he added.
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