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Gill takes WC snub in stride, for better Test build-up
India's Test team faces challenges after recent series losses, with new captain Shubman Gill emphasizing the need for better preparation ahead of matches.
Mumbai: These are uneasy times for India’s Test team. Except for a drawn series in England last summer, it’s been a forgettable period. Teams used to dread touring India because of its spin strength. Not anymore.
In October-November 2024, New Zealand defied the odds to blank the Rohit Sharma-led side 3-0. Soon after, Australia avenged their back-to-back home series defeats with a comprehensive win.
It led to Rohit losing his captaincy and retiring from Tests. The selectors took a punt on young Shubman Gill, under whom India made a promising start in England, sharing honours at the end of a thrilling five-Test contest. An easy home win over West Indies followed. The gains of the England tour, however, were squandered when South Africa toured at the 2025 end, handing India their second rout in 12 months (0-2).
As the Indian team management plans ahead for red-ball cricket, one step skipper Shubman Gill wants is good preparation before a Test series. “If you would see in our last two Test series, we didn’t have that much time to prepare,” Gill told the reporters ahead of Sunday’s first ODI against New Zealand, when asked about his discussion on the subject with cricket board officials.
“It’s not easy playing in India, and playing another match in a different country on the fourth day, especially when you are travelling on long tours.
“Even if you would have won the series against South Africa, it still wouldn’t have made that much of a difference, because we know we need to prepare well to be able to win Tests all over the world.”
India’s batters are excellent on good batting pitches as they showed in England. But if they want to prepare turners at home then they have shown a lack of skill, which was exposed by New Zealand and South Africa. In the series they beat India at home, the New Zealand and South Africa batters had come better prepared by playing Tests in Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.
“Preparation for me is really big, and I didn’t think we had that much time to prepare when we came back from Australia, or even after the Asia Cup when we played the West Indies series,” said Gill.
With a packed schedule, however, finding enough time for a camp will be a challenge. “It’s important to at least have some bit of preparation, especially changing from white-ball format to red ball. We’ll take some action and keep it in mind to be able to prepare well before any red-ball series.”
T20 WC miss
Gill is also dealing with the disappointment of losing his spot for the T20 World Cup. How he takes the setback is going to be a test of his mettle.
“As a player, you have a belief that if you play in the World Cup, you will win it for your team, (and) you will win it for your country,” said Gill. “(But) I respect the selectors’ decision and I’m wishing the team all the very best. I really, really hope that they win the World Cup for us.”
As ODI captain, Gill must handle Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Asked about the dressing room atmosphere, Gill said: “The team atmosphere is amazing. The players you named (Virat and Rohit) have been in this atmosphere for decades and they are the people who always try to push the Indian team forward. “Even in the last series you saw how well they performed.”
