Mohali (Punjab) [India], June 20 : Former cricketer Yograj Singh believes India's newly crowned Test captain Shubman Gill needs to lead from the front and has to take the team forward along with him, just like Kapil Dev did in the 1983 World Cup, in his first assignment against England, which begins on Friday at Headingley.
India is poised to witness a new era in the Test format without its batting mainstays, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from the format last month. India has infused young blood and a new skill set to fill the gap left by the departure of the two seasoned pros.
Apart from the batting bigwigs, India will miss off-spinner Ravichandran Aswhin and the plethora of variations he brought. Ashwin had his last dance in Australia and announced his retirement midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
With Gill given the responsibility of steering the team in India's new era of Test cricket, Yograj outlined the key aspects India's youngest red-ball captain must consider to soar to new heights.
According to Yograj, Gill must set his individual scoring target high and take the team with him. He also dropped the series prediction and believes India has the potential to conquer England and stand victorious on the opposition's territory for the first time since 2007.
"A few days ago, I was talking to Yuvraj Singh about Abhishek (Sharma) and Shubman Gill. Yuvraj said he would have to lead from the front. As Shubman Gill goes out to bat, he has to stay at the crease for the maximum time. When a captain leads from the front, and scores run. It is important for Shubman to set a target of 100, 200 or 300. He has to lead from the front. He also has to take everyone forward together, just like Kapil Dev did in the 1983 World Cup. I believe India will win the series," Yograj told ANI.
For Gill, the coin didn't spin in his favour during his first outing as India Test captain during the time of the toss. England captain Ben Stokes won and opted to bowl, a general trend at Headingley.
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
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