Mumbai, June 17: India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill is a mix of his predecessors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli but he will be “very much his own man” in the middle when he leads the national side in the eagerly-awaited five-Test series against England starting on Friday, feels Jos Buttler.
Buttler, the former England limited-overs captain who played under Gill in this year’s IPL, said the 25-year-old will need to find a balance between his captaincy role and his own batting.
“He’s a really impressive player and an impressive young man,” Buttler said on his podcast ‘For The Love of Cricket’ alongside former England pacer Stuart Broad.
“He’s pretty calm and measured when he speaks, but (it’s) interesting, I feel like on the field he’s got a bit of fight about him; a bit of intensity, quite passionate. I think he’ll be a mix of Kohli and Rohit.
“Kohli (was) that sort of real aggressive (character), really transformed the Indian team, in your face, up for the contest. Rohit was a bit on the other side, a bit more laid back, very cool, calm, collected customer, but with that sort of fight,” he added.
Buttler expects Gill to “be a bit in the middle”.
“He’s obviously learned from those two guys… but he’ll be very much his own man.”
Buttler said the job of captaining India in Test cricket is like being a “third or fourth-most influential people” in the country
“He talked about compartmentalising batting and captaining; so when he’s batting he just wants to be a batter, and then he will try and work on his captaincy and try and separate the two roles,” he said.
“I don’t think we can quite understand the level of interest and the stardom that these guys have. You see it around the IPL, you’re aware of it, but actually living that yourself… I think they say the Indian Test captain is like the third or fourth-most influential person in India, behind the Prime Minister, so you really are put up on that pedestal.
“(There are a) one-and-half billion people, all cricket-mad, so it’s going to be a huge job for him. Kohli is the king, Shubman is the prince: that’s the narrative that they spin out there, and I feel that he’s the coming man…Stepping into that No. 4, it’s big shoes, isn’t it?”
“IPL teams as good as international teams”
Buttler said the level of competitiveness in IPL, given its unique window, makes some of the teams in the competition as good as international teams.
“I would say some teams would compete well, they are just as good as international teams. I think (a) Mumbai Indians XI had nine or 10 players who had played international cricket and they are just not any odd internationals either.
“Obviously, the window the IPL has, there is no competition from international cricket, it has got its own designated window. All the best players in the world are available, all the local Indian talent where the depth is just growing and growing and growing,” he said.
“Suryavanshi’s ton was inspiring and deflating”
Buttler said 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s 38-ball 101 for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans, which was the second-fastest IPL ton and fastest for any Indian in T20 cricket, was both “inspiring and deflating”.
“This guy is (about) 20 years younger than me, and he is just smashing us all around the park. Absolutely (sent) shockwaves throughout the cricket world,” he said.
“…the first ball, he gave himself a bit of room and smacked it over wide long on for a six… that fearlessness. I love these guys out there; there are so many brilliant players. They almost want to make a statement as in ‘look at me’.”
Buttler also recalled Suryavanshi’s knock of 57 against Chennai Super Kings and said, “I’m like ‘this guy is the best player I have ever seen,” he said. (PTI)
