Former Indian cricketer and analyst Mohammad Kaif has asserted that the Indian ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill is still in a learning phase and needs more experienced bowlers in his playing XI.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaif reckoned that Gill needs to work on finding the right balance with a perfect mix of experienced and young bowlers in his squad, adding that he shouldn’t destroy young bowlers’ careers.
“It’s hurting me that he’s not able to see these things. I don’t know who is telling him things behind. First he has to accept that he is still learning captaincy and that is why he needs experienced bowlers. This is why the captaincy is getting exposed. You cannot become a good captain by giving excuse of flat pitch. Flat pitches will always be there. It has been there since ages. I feel Shubman Gill will have to be smart here and bring in a mix of experienced and new bowlers. If Nabi is getting hit, how will Gurnoor help him? A senior bowler can help the young bowlers. You cannot play all young bowlers. You are destroying careers of young bowlers as well,” he explained in a video on his YouTube channel.
Further, Kaif expressed his disappointment that Gill doesn’t have enough senior players on his side to support him, while the former captains had MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, or even Rohit Sharma. He further cautioned the selection committee by stating that Gill’s captaincy will not run for long of he gets inexperienced bowlers in his line-up.
“Shubman Gill is a young captain. If you see any experienced captain or older players, by the time they got ODI captaincy, they had played a lot of games already. The transition has happened very early for Gill. The others had a lot of support of senior players as well. Gill does not have that support really. He has to think about this. He is a young captain and a work in progress himself,” he said.
“He is heading towards understanding how to be a good captain. In this, if you get inexperienced bowling like this, his captaincy will not run for long. Even if it is a flat track, senior bowlers will find ways to deliver. A young team and a young captain is a bad combination. That was exposed and it was seen that he had no idea when so many runs were getting scored,” he concluded.
