"It won't be easy for him"- Former Australia captain's big statement on Shubman Gill ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 Test series
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has said that newly appointed India Test captain Shubman Gill has work to do as far as his Test batting was concerned. The 50-year-old said that having to improve his batting and lead India in Test cricket would not be an easy task for him.
Ponting also revealed that he wanted Gill to lead India in the fifth Border-Gavaskar Test match against Australia at Sydney in January 2025, when Rohit Sharma opted out of the match.
"His white ball form has been incredibly good. He's got a little bit of work to do, on his Test match batting. And that's never easy when you're a new captain, to have to worry about your batting to the degree that he's going to have to, it won't be easy for him," Ponting told PTI (via NDTV).
"I actually named him as captain for the Sydney Test match last summer when Rohit didn't play that game and there was a bit of an injury cloud over Bumrah, or as that game went on, Bumrah actually broke down in that game," he added.
Ricky Ponting advocates Shubman Gill as India's new number four after Virat Kohli's Test retirement
Virat Kohli's retirement from Test cricket in May means that India need to find a new number four in Test cricket. Ricky Ponting felt that Shubman Gill should bat at that number for India in the first Test against England at Leeds on Friday, June 20.
"The reason I did that was if they go with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, and if Sai Sudarshan is the other opener, they need someone a bit more experienced at number three. So that could be either, KL at three, or that could be a Karun Nair at three and Shubman at four. Once you grow into it, then you can move yourself back up to that number three spot," Ponting said.
Several former India players have offered their opinion on who should be India's new number four. Anil Kumble had suggested Karun Nair to bat at that number four. Virender Sehwag had recommended Gill's deputy Rishabh Pant to bat at number four.