‘Grow some f**ing balls,’ yelled Shubman Gill at Zak Crawley at the very end of the third day’s play at Lord’s. The English opener was wasting time by stopping Jasprit Bumrah in his run-up to ensure India didn’t bowl more than 1 over. He even called the physio after Bumrah struck his hand.
This didn’t amuse India’s captain. He signalled an ‘X,’ basically saying that the physio doesn’t need to come for a ‘fake injury.’ Levelled 1-1 in the series, Gill wanted to win. He and the entire team were giving their best. The aggression he showed seemed to bring the whole team together, and each of them started sledging Crawley and Ben Duckett.
Gill was standing up for his team
The team hadn’t looked this united since the Sydney encounter between Bumrah and Sam Konstas. However, many felt Gill had taken things too far. His batting performance afterwards wasn’t that great either. But former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is pleased with what Gill did.
Known for showing his aggression as well, Ponting thinks Gill went a little out of character, not for himself but to show his team how they want to play the game.
“That was a little out of character from what I’ve known from Shubman in the past. I am sure everyone that was there watching it—and I know you would know him quite well—that’s not what he’s generally like. That’s the captain standing up for his team; that’s a captain really wanting to show that it’s his team now and this is the way that we’re going to play the game, and also, I guess, wanting to give a little bit back,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.
Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli comparisons
When Gill did what he did at Lord’s, many felt they were saying Virat Kohli led the side. The former Indian captain was fierce when competing. He was willing to fight, with his bat and words. Ponting thinks much like Kohli; Gill was showing his team that they aren’t here to compete but to win.
“I think that’s him starting to put his stamp on his team. And a lot like Virat (Kohli) did, similar ways like that,” Ponting added.
Rohit Sharma, Gill’s predecessor as India’s Test captain, was different, but Ponting thinks his way was to motivate his own players rather than take the opposition on. This isn’t what Gill’s doing, but the Aussie loves what he’s seeing.
“Rohit (Sharma) probably was never as outwardly aggressive, I guess, especially to opposition players. I know he (Rohit) would quite often get aggressive with his teammates and try to bring the best out of them that way. But I love watching Shubman stand up for what he thought was right in the game last week,” Punter added.
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