'If India Had An Experienced Captain...': 'Shell-Shocked' Shubman Gill SLAMMED Ahead Of 2nd Test Vs England
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India suffered a defeat in the first Test of the five-match series at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds. This was Shubman Gill's first match as the new India Test captain, after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. While he excelled with the bat in the match, scoring 147 in the first innings, Gill's captaincy was heavily criticized, as for the first time in history, a team lost a Test match after scoring 5 individual hundreds. Now, former England captain Alastair Cook has taken a massive shot at the new Indian captain.
In his column in The Sunday Times, Alastair Cook pointed out that a number of players were on the field making decisions on Day 5, apart from Gill. He highlighted that all DRS calls were incorrect. Cook claimed that Gill was shell-shocked at England chasing 372 runs on Day 5.
Cook also pointed out that a more established captain would have put pressure on England after getting a lead of 340 after losing just five wickets in the second innings. Instead, they suffered a late batting collapse.
"You could see lots of people out on the field making decisions and getting involved with DRS calls, and they got all of those wrong. You can read all the leadership books you like, but until you are out there, there is no other feeling like it. I imagine he (Gill) would have felt shell-shocked," Cook wrote.
"I think in India’s second innings a more established captain might have thought, ‘we’re 340 ahead and five down, let’s put some pressure on England’. As it was, they were bowled out with a lead of just over 370 anyway, but it might have helped their situation to have attacked a bit more," he added.
Nitish Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav In
Alastair Cook also suggested that India should make some changes in the playing XI for the 2nd Test vs England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. They could bring it Nitish Reddy in place of either Karun Nair or Sai Sudharsan. Cook also suggested bringing in Kuldeep Yadav as the extra spinner.
"They might have to leave out either Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan and play Nitish Kumar Reddy, who can bat and also bowl some phantom seamers, and then they can play Kuldeep Yadav as an extra spinner,"
