Gill: ‘Captaincy brings out the best in me’

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He says he feels amazing leading ‘such phenomenal talented players’

Shubman Gill and his boys finished with a 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe  •  AFP/Getty Images

Shubman Gill believes that captaincy brings the “best out of him” because it brings out a side of him where he really enjoys being out on the field.

“It is something that I definitely enjoy,” Gill said about captaincy after leading India to a 4-1 T20I series win over Zimbabwe in Harare. “I think it brings out the best in me when I am out there because I look to be involved in the game. It is something that really brings out the side of me which I enjoy being on the field.”

With most of the senior players rested, Gill was asked to lead the Indian side for the first time in his career. His stint started on a tough note with India going down in the opening game of the series, but he quickly found his stride as the visitors posted comfortable wins in the next four games.

Gill admitted there was pressure but the satisfaction of overcoming that and helping India finish on the right side of the results was “immense”.

“There was pressure, I wouldn’t say extra pressure but obviously even when you are playing just as a batsman when you don’t perform there is a certain kind of pressure that comes along with it,” he said. “But I think that’s the fun part of it. You kind of feel so many different emotions. Pressure is one of them. And when you get out of that, the satisfaction that you feel is immense.”

India had gone with a relatively inexperienced squad to Zimbabwe with a lot of the players still very new to international cricket. Gill himself was just 14 T20Is old coming into the series but said the chance to lead a young side with “such phenomenal talented players” was amazing.

“To be able to lead such phenomenal talented players who I have had the pleasure to play with or against at some stage in age-group cricket or Under-19 or at the India level, it just feels very amazing.

“When you have played against or with so many of the players… I think almost with everyone I have played against or with at some age-group level, it definitely makes my job easier because I understand them at a player level and I understand them as a person as well.

“So many talented players, so many players coming up and it is really fun to be able to play alongside them when I am at the non-striker’s end,” Gill said.

But what went wrong in the first T20I where India chasing 116 were bundled out for 102 in 19.5 overs? Gill said that India “failed to assess the conditions” properly in that game.

“I think that is the mistake we did in the first T20, the score wasn’t that big but I think we didn’t assess the conditions as early and we lost too many wickets in the powerplay and then once you are under pressure, then you are always behind in the game,” he said.

Gill did not single out one particular captain that he idolises in international cricket but said that Rohit Sharma was someone he really looked up to.

“You can take qualities from Rohit bhai or even Mahi (MS Dhoni) bhai, Virat (Kohli) bhai, Hardik (Pandya) bhai, all of them,” he said. “All of them have great qualities. I have played the most under Rohit bhai, so he is someone who I look up to and really enjoy playing under.”

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