New Delhi: India Test captain Shubman Gill Tuesday said he does not hesitate in taking “bold decisions” to extract the best out of his players as he gets used to the highly-scrutinised role.
Gill’s first Test assignment as leader was the marquee five-match away series against England which was ended in a 2-2 draw, before he led the side to a 2-0 clean sweep over the West Indies following a seven-wicket win in the second match here Tuesday.
“I try to make the most probable decision in the given situation that we’re in that game. And sometimes you have to take a little bit of bold decisions and that X factor, depending on which player can get you certain runs or can get you those wickets,” he said.
“I would say I am kind of getting used to it, managing all the players in this side,” the 26-year-old Gill answered when asked about his evolution as a leader.
“I enjoy responsibility. I like to be the guy out there and I do it my way. Being involved in some of the key decisions is something that I really like and I think it brings out the best in me. I think that’s what’s happening in my life.”
Asked about his thoughts on asking the West Indies to follow on in the second Test, he brushed aside the criticism that the decision placed the bowlers under added physical strain, insisting that the conditions demanded the call.
“We were around 300 runs ahead and the wicket was quite dead, so we thought even if we scored like 500 runs and we have to get 6 or 7 wickets on day 5, it could be a tough day for us, so that was the thought process,” he explained.
Gill performed well with the bat during the series, hitting a hundred and a fifty in the two matches, and he said he had to separate the roles concerning his batting and captaincy.
“Definitely, you need to separate the two when I’m going out there to bat. Batting is something that I’ve grown up doing since I was 3 or 4 years old. So when I go out there (to bat), I just want to make decisions as a batsman.
“The one thing that you always fight for is how can you make your team win a match. And as a batsman, when I’m going out there, that’s the only thought that I have.”
On seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Reddy being promoted to number five in the betting order, he said, “He didn’t really get to bowl any over in this match but we don’t want players to only play matches at overseas. That puts a lot of pressure on the players.
“We want to groom certain players that we think can help us win matches overseas because that’s been the challenge for us.”
Ro-Ko have won so many matches for us
Gill will captain senior players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the upcoming three-match ODI series in Australia beginning on Sunday, and he said he is looking forward to it.
“I think we have been playing one of our best in ODIs in past 2-3 years. Nothing changes for us. It’s more or less the same team that we’re playing.
“They (Virat and Rohit) have won so many matches for us in the past. They’ve been playing for India for the past 10-15 years. Winning matches for us is an experience that we bring to the table. It’s something every captain of every team wants,” he asserted.
“That’s what we’re looking forward to. We just want them to go out there and do their magic.”
Asked if he was enjoying playing multiple formats, he said, “That was new for me. But I think going back to the basics of a particular format is something that I think works for me.
“It’s something (the basics) that I go back to,” added the Punjab player who is the vice captain of India’s T20 International side.
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