In his final Test innings, against the West Indies, Sachin Tendulkar was caught at slip off Narsingh Deonarine. As he walked off for the last time, he crossed in-coming batter Virat Kohli. Kohli then cracked the first ball he faced to the boundary. The symbolism was inescapable. The king is dead, long live the king.
When Kohli was dismissed caught at slip off Scott Boland in the Sydney Test earlier this year, no one knew it would be his final innings. He was replaced by Rishabh Pant who struck the next ball for a six! The symbolism, if any, will become clear only in retrospect. The line from Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, indicative of the batter who stood head and shoulders above the rest, is searching for the next claimant to settle on. Will it be Pant or Shubman Gill, India’s new captain?
Transitions are hard. They are also exciting, stimulating, and full of possibilities. It is a tribute to the way Indian cricket has evolved that the question asked in the 1980 when Gavaskar retired, “Who, after him?” was not raised when his successors quit. There is confidence that someone young and ready will come through the system and take over.
Double duty
As captain and potentially the lead batter of the unfolding decade, Gill has two jobs. Firstly to establish himself in the team. An average of 35 over 32 Tests is underwhelming for a player of his talent and impact both mathematically and visually. Simultaneously he has to keep India at the top of the table and lead them to the next final of the World Test Championship. Gill’s average outside India is under 30, his only away century coming in Bangladesh.
All selection committees have to take calls on faith. In Gill’s case, while his current record does not do him justice, the prayer is that he will, like his predecessors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma blossom as both batter and captain.
His handling of the Gujarat Titans in the IPL was impressive, and perhaps influenced the selectors. Pant lost out here because neither his form nor his captaincy of the Lucknow Super Giants has been inspiring. Out of the race for the top job for the moment, he can focus on the England series to regain his touch behind and in front of the stumps.
If Gill and Pant strike, it will be a sight for the gods. One, tall, elegant, graceful brings to his batting an artistry that elevates statistics while the other is a force of nature, a destroyer of reputations. Gill, 25, and Pant, 27, were seen as the future of Indian cricket when they started out. And now the future is here.
The bowling is in transition too, following the unexpected retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin in Australia. His partner in crime, Ravindra Jadeja is the oldest in the team, while the next generation of fast bowlers — Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna — will have Jasprit Bumrah mentoring them. Much will depend on how Bumrah is handled; already it is clear he will not play all five Tests.
Captaincy pleasures and pains
Despite teams often travelling with a support staff larger than the main staff, captaincy in cricket is still unique and unlike in any other sport. When a side wins, it is put down to teamwork; losses are seen as the captain’s fault. A predecessor of Gill’s, Sourav Ganguly thought it was the second most difficult job in the country after the Prime Minister’s. Fans tend to judge purely by numbers. Tiger Pataudi, by common consent India’s finest captain, won only nine matches of the 40 he led in; yet he is revered for building a team and, as Bishan Bedi said, instilling a sense of Indianness. At a time when India were one of the lower-ranked teams, he initiated a self-respect movement.
Kohli was able to pass on some of his own enormous self-belief and aggression to his teammates who, in recent years, have shown themselves capable of giving as good as they get, both cricket-wise and otherwise.
Captains stamp their teams with their own personality; the Indian team, with youngsters prepared for a long stint, will look to Gill for direction. Exciting times.
Published – May 28, 2025 12:30 am IST