England tour preparation would help Gill embrace Test captaincy and redefine his batting: Pujara

As Shubman Gill embarks on a new journey as Team India’s Test captain, his former teammate and red-ball veteran Cheteshwar Pujara throws his weight behind him to succeed. Gill, 25, replaced Rohit Sharma as the Test captain, with the men’s selection committee appointing gloveman Rishabh Pant as his deputy. With the forthcoming England Test series being Gill’s first assignment as the new skipper, Pujara reminded him of opening his batting horizon to succeed in those challenging conditions.

Gill is not new to the English conditions, having played both WTC Finals (2021 and 2023) and the rescheduled fifth Test against England from the 2021 tour, held in Birmingham in 2022. Besides, he had a brief stint with the County side Glamorgan.

Meanwhile, Pujara feels that while preparing for the challenging UK tour, Gill would embrace his new captaincy role and understand how, by knowing when and where to score runs, he would expand his scoring shots, helping his white-ball game too.

“When he goes to England, and when he starts his preparation, he will understand that these are the shots, which he can play while the ball is new. Plus, there are some shots which you need to avoid when the ball is new, and it's swinging or seaming around a bit. I would say it's very similar to what you get in Australia, where the ball does a bit more for the first 25-30 overs, and then it settles down a bit,” Pujara said during a chat show on Sony Sports Network, the official broadcaster for India’s tour of England 2025.

Pujara suggested he increase his scoring rate once the shine is away and the ball is older, which makes it easier to score runs. However, he warned Gill against scoring runs right when the ball is new.

“So, once the ball gets old, you, as a batter, you can play a few more shots. But if he is batting at number 3 or 4 and India loses one or two wickets early on, then he might have to change his game a bit. He is capable enough to do that, and once he goes there, I am sure he will understand what he has to do,” he added.

Meanwhile, what keeps everyone interested is how Team India’s top four would shape up in the five-match series. Commenting on the same, Pujara feels Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul should continue playing at the top while backing Gill to stick to his number three position. For the fourth slot, he picked Karun Nair.