‘I think leadership sits well with him,’ Ponting reviews Shubman Gill’s appointment as India Test captain
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘I think leadership sits well with him,’ Ponting reviews Shubman Gill’s appointment as India Test captain")
‘I think leadership sits well with him,’ Ponting reviews Shubman Gill’s appointment as India Test captain Photograph: (AFP)
Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee handpicked Gill to lead India’s new Test side ahead of ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah, who doesn’t remain a sure starter in all Tests due to his workload management.
Former Australia great Ricky Ponting reviews BCCI’s appointment of Shubman Gill as the new Test captain, replacing now-retired opener Rohit Sharma. Ponting, perhaps the most successful skipper of his time, having won two World Cups and as many Champions Trophy titles besides winning countless crucial tournaments all over, feels Gill has shown enough leadership skills during his time as the Gujarat Titans skipper in IPL to deserve his promotion in the Test side.
Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee handpicked Gill to lead India’s new Test side ahead of ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah, who doesn’t remain a sure starter in all Tests due to his workload management. Speaking on the same lines, Ponting said it’s the right move to hand over the baton to Gill instead of Bumrah, as a team cannot have a captain coming in and missing games for whatever reason.
"I actually think it's the right move," Ponting said while speaking on The ICC Review. "I know there's a lot of other people out there, pundits out there saying they can't understand why it wasn't Bumrah and why they have gone to Shubman, but I think it's pretty simple.”
Jasprit Bumrah has missed plenty of cricket action this year, including the first showpiece event in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy to his persistent back injury. His injury woes forced the selectors to look beyond him as the captaincy option, despite him leading India to its only win on their past away tour Down Under. Even considering his game awareness, the selectors had to let go of this option in picking Rohit’s successor in Tests.
"Bumrah's injuries are holding him back a bit in the last couple of years, and you don't want that with a captain. You can't have a captain coming in and missing games here and there, so I think it's I think it's the right decision,” Ponting continued. "Now that they've made it, it's one they've got to stick with and give him a good crack at it for, for a long period of time.”
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Ponting pinpoints captain’s role in the team
Having led by example during his time, Ponting understands what the primary roles of a team captain are, and for a batter, scoring runs all the time leads the chart.
"Even just looking back at the way he's handled this current GT (Gujarat Titans) team through this IPL, I think leadership sits really well with him.
"And the important thing for me with leadership, as well as if you're a batter and you're a captain, you have to be scoring runs. And Shubman is doing that in IPL, and I think the timing is right, and I think you'll have a good captain who’ll make a lot of Test runs going forward,” Ponting noted.
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill will lead the new-look Indian Team in the five-match Test series against England, starting June 20 in Leeds.
