India faced a heartbreaking defeat in the first Test at Headingly, as Shubman Gill and co. failed to defend a target of 371 runs against England, who clinched a convincing five-wicket victory to go one up in the series.
Despite scoring five tons in total, India's sub-par bowling and fielding performances ensured that England were never out of the game, which ultimately resulted in a loss in the very first Test Gill was in charge of.
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Shubman Gill scored a brilliant 147 in the first innings but failed to replicate his heroics in the second innings as he went out for just eight runs to his name.
In spite of performing well with the bat, Gill's on-field antics have been questioned by Nasser Hussain, as he feels the new Indian skipper wasn't really in charge of the game at Leeds.
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What did Nasser Hussain say about Shubman Gill?
The former England skipper wasn't too impressed by Shubman Gill's approach to the game as a captain. He felt that Gill was trying to find his way through in the first Test, but should be careful about the names he has succeeded to the throne.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Hussain said, "I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You’ve got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he’s (Gill) taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma."
He further mentioned that Gill doesn't possess the on-field aura of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as both the former players would have let their presence be known on the field, unlike the present one.
"I thought he didn’t quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there. You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India."
Hussain also added that there were a lot of captains in the team who appeared to be leading the side at times instead of the original one, which can happen in the early days of a new skipper.
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"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’re still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible."
Dissecting Gill's captaincy further, Hussain concluded that he found the new Indian skipper to be more reactive than proactive.
"I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive."
Although it's just the early days, it will be interesting to see how Gill shapes up as the captain in the red-ball format after this early setback. The youngster might not have the aura of Kohli and Rohit but will surely try to find a way of his own to bring back the glory days for India in the longest format.