Karun Nair Lauds Shubman Gill’s Captaincy During England Series: “He Exemplified the Spirit of Gauti bhai”

A player who made a comeback to the Test team after eight years in this series had a lot of good things to say about captain Gill.

Karun Nair Lauds Shubman Gill’s Captaincy During England Series: “He Exemplified the Spirit of Gauti bhai”

Karun Nair and Shubman Gill (via OneCricket)

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The recently concluded England vs. India Test series was one for the ages. The fact that every Test match went till the fifth day with both teams battling neck to neck made it an enjoyable seven hours for 25 days. Even after six weeks of such hard-fought cricket the series couldn’t produce a decisive winner with both teams sharing the trophy at 2-2.

At the helm of this series was Indian captain Shubman Gill. The Indian modern superstar was clear about his goals prior to the series. He was well aware that his numbers were underwhelming in away tours and was ready to make serious amends.

Gill’s bat did do the talking as he amassed an impeccable 754 runs in just 10 innings with two hundreds and a mammoth 250+ score. He, with this bucket of runs, became second to Sunil Gavaskar‘s tally of 774 against the West Indies in 1971 in terms of most runs by an Indian in a series.

However, there have been mixed opinions when it came to his captaincy decisions during the five match affair. Most have hailed Gill for doing an impressive job despite it being his first ever assignment.

A few have also been critical and have felt Gill often followed the play rather than being proactive. A player who made a comeback to the Test team after eight years in this series had a lot of good things to say about captain Gill. Karun Nair via ESPNcricinfo praised Gill’s captaincy in the Test series.

Nair stated that Gill was extremely encouraging which helped the team in achieving their series goals. Gill also was extremely clear in his communication according to Nair and this trait is often the most important when it comes to a captain.

The way Shubman held everyone together and the encouragement he gave was great to see. He was crystal clear with his communication from the beginning, to achieve what he did as a batter, while also leading the team – as a leader, he exemplified the spirit of Gauti bhai.

Karun Nair said

Nair also emphasized on Gill setting personal and team goals and eventually achieving them in the series. He also mentioned that the young captain was instrumental in exemplifying coach Gautam Gambhir‘s mindset in the entire team. Gill has started his captaincy assignment on a great note.

However, India is yet to win a Test series since their last victory against Bangladesh last year. Gill would be prepared to change that, and he has a great chance in the upcoming home series against the West Indies.

How many more chances does Karun Nair have?

Karun Nair was one of the talking points of the recently concluded series. His comeback into the Indian team after 8 years owing to an incredibly successful domestic season was something every Indian fan was waiting for. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Nair didn’t have the dream comeback he would have wished for.

Karun Nair in Test Cricket
Karun Nair (via One Turf News)

He was dropped mid series as well due to underwhelming returns. He, however, made a comeback to the side for the final Test, in which he scored an important match setting half century. That half century not only helped India win eventually but also will have some impact on Nair’s future in the team. In 8 innings he scored a total of 205 runs at an ordinary average of 25.62.

He might have just saved his spot for the upcoming Test series at home against the West Indies. Nair would prefer a home series as it would be played on tracks similar to the ones on which he got all his domestic runs.

A series against a relatively subdued opposition might just help Nair stack up some runs to be named in the next series against a tougher opposition in South Africa. That too is a home series for India, and Nair would love to play all four Test matches across the two series.

India is also facing some pressure prior to the home season after they lost 3-0 to the New Zealand side last year, failing to face some quality spin on spin friendly wickets. It will be a good test for both India and Karun Nair as India will wear whites once again in a couple of months’ time.

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