Even with six specialist hitters and four tailenders, India Test skipper Shubman Gill said the team is willing to sacrifice batting depth for more bowlers. India will play England in a five-match Test series, starting Friday at Headingley.
The new captain noted a change in tactics from India’s recent tour of Australia, where the squad used two all-rounders, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy, alongside the main batting combination.
Yes, definitely. No matter how many runs you score, you need 20 wickets to win a Test. How we’ll take 20 wickets has been one of our main discussions. We may only have six hitters and a bowling all-rounder and three to four fast bowlers or real bowlers “Shubman Gill said Cricbuzz.
Shubman Gill said the team has been inspired by their seniors’ approach for winning matches in various conditions during the past decade. He also stressed that a positive team environment is essential for the forthcoming Test series and a successful World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
In the last 5-10 years, our seniors taught us that we can win wherever. We will endeavour to follow that template. As I said, a healthy team environment makes players feel secure, confident, and know their position. We want to foster that team environment.
I think our Test series and WTC cycle will be successful if we create that climate “Shubman Gill added.
Shubman Gill said he wants to focus on his battering rather than his captaincy. He noted that this would lessen pressure and let him focus on dominating the series.
“After Virat bhai retired, me and GG bhai [Gambhir] had a discussion about it and we both agreed that he wanted me at number four and I wanted to be there,” Gill stated.
“I simply want to bat as a batter and not think about being captain because I think that puts too much pressure on me. I aim to dominate the opposition and be the series’ best batsman whenever I play. I’m focussing on that “concluded.
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