India Captain Urges Shubman Gill to ‘Stop Needless Aggression’—Wary of Branding Like Virat Kohli

India Captain Urges Shubman Gill to ‘Stop Needless Aggression’: Whenever Virat Kohli’s name has come up during the India vs England Test series, it’s not always been because of his batting. The way he used to carry himself in the field, look the opposition in the eye, pump up the crowd and motivate the bowlers and fielders has been talked about during various stages of the Test match, especially when India haven’t done well. And mind you, there haven’t been many sessions in this series where India haven’t done well.

Former cricketers like Ravi Shastri and Nasser Hussain said India’s new captain Shubman Gill despite all his success with the bat lacks the aggression and the attitude when India couldn’t bowl out England on Day 5 at Headingley. England chased down 371 to take a 1-0 lead. And when Gill did try to take the aggressive route by getting into an ugly spat with England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett at the end of Day 3 at Lord’s, it backfired.

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It not only fired up England in former fast bowler Stuart Broad in a way he had never seen before but also put unnecessary pressure on Gill when he came out to bat late on Day 4. The England fielders hounded the Indian captain who despite being the highest scorer of this series with three centuries including a record-breaking 269 looked tentative and out of sorts.

Gill missed a full toss at the start of his innings and was eventually dismissed for a 9-ball 6. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar told Shubman Gill not to get caught in the brand-building exercise based on an image that doesn’t suit him naturally.

"If somebody wants to build a brand by saying, we are Indians, we are not less than anyone. That (The thought process) gets a lot of attention and mileage. I hope Shubman Gill wasn't doing it for that," Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.

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Manjrekar said Virat Kohli loved to pick up a fight with the opposition because that brought the best out of him. He believed Kohli would have scored a century at Lord’s in the second innings if he had come out to bat at that stage. But Gill looked very timid and unnatural during his stay in the middle.

"What Virat Kohli did was second nature to him. His cricket and batting used to get enhanced by that. Shubman Gill, I'm not sure whether this (aggression) comes naturally to him. If Virat Kohli had come out to bat, he would have looked into the face of those people and got a hundred. But if you looked at Shubman Gill's body language, the man who has almost batted like Bradman, was so tentative. The way he batted in those 9 balls seemed like he had gotten a pair. That is a clear message to me that aggression may not be his natural demeanour or approach," he added.

Gill’s spat with Crawley had a lingering effect on the third Test. England came out all guns blazing with the ball and made life tough for India’s top order. Ben Stokes bowled two long spells and Jofra Archer was brutal on Day 5. Despite a late cameo from Ravindra Jadeja and the tail, India fell 22 short of the 193 target.

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