Nasser Hussain Analyzes Shubman Gill's 'Reactive' Captaincy, Contrasts it with Kohli and Sharma's Leadership

Thursday - 10/07/2025 04:00
Following India's defeat in the Leeds Test, former England captain Nasser Hussain critiqued Shubman Gill's captaincy debut, noting a lack of commanding presence compared to Kohli and Sharma. Hussain echoed Ravi Shastri's concerns about India's search for a seam-bowling all-rounder and highlighted issues with slip catching and lower-order batting collapses, which contributed to England's victory.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has offered his analysis of India's recent Test match defeat in Leeds, echoing Ravi Shastri's on-air observations regarding Shubman Gill's captaincy and India's need for a seam-bowling all-rounder. Hussain contrasted Gill's leadership style with that of his predecessors, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, while also raising concerns about the team's slip catching and lower-order batting collapses during the match, ultimately contributing to England's five-wicket victory.

Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant during a match *Shubman Gill (R) and Rishabh Pant (L) are the current captain and vice-captain of the Indian Test team.*

The Leeds Test marked Gill's debut as captain following Rohit Sharma's retirement. England successfully chased down 371 runs, marking their second-highest chase at home against India.

Hussain noted that Gill's captaincy seemed to be in its nascent stages, lacking the assertive presence of Kohli and Sharma.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly," Hussain stated. "You've got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he's taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn't quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there."

Hussain elaborated, "I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive."

Hussain was also surprised that neither Gill nor other senior players intervened in Ravindra Jadeja's bowling strategy on Day 5. Jadeja, according to Hussain, failed to exploit the rough patches on the pitch effectively.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, you do know the rough is out there," Hussain suggested. "Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher are up there, going, show us where that ball is pitching, and it was pitching nowhere near the rough. Ravi was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough. I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, Can we go a little bit wider. But Ravi's right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn't control (catches dropped and batting collapse)."

Hussain further highlighted India's persistent search for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing comparisons to past players.

"The slip cordon and the catching were poor, something that India have done well in the last two or three years and the collapses. And that concerns me because India has a lower order with spin bowling all-rounders and has had for the last decade, which are magnificent. Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar Patel. In England, they are still looking, I think, for that seam bowling all-rounder, you know, someone like a Hardik Pandya, going back to Ravi's times, Kapil Dev or whatever, they are still looking for that lower-order bowler who can bat. And if they keep going for, what, seven for 41 and six for 30 or whatever, then this could be a quick series. They need to run down the order."

The team's attempts with Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have yet to yield the desired equilibrium in the lower order, as demonstrated by the batting collapses in both innings, despite the team achieving five centuries during the match.

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