The making of Shubman Gill the Test captain, through the eyes of coaches and a trainer
What caught India's junior coach Abhay Sharma's attention when he first saw a 14-year-old Shubman Gill was the consistency of his conduct. Shubman had hit eight straight centuries for Punjab but there was nothing about his demeanour to suggest that. 'His behaviour remained consistent whether he scored 100 or 10. His mindset was excellent, he knew he was good but always wanted to improve,' Sharma says.
Two years later, Shubman, now 16, was at Dharamshala in the middle of a net session with his talented Punjab junior team of that time. WV Raman, former India opener and reputed coach, was on the sidelines. Shubman was facing a variety of bowlers, one of them an express pacer.
While judging a young batsman, Raman has relied on an old method. 'What I look to see is the kind of time that he has when batting and how composed he is when up against real fast bowlers.' Shubman would get the coach's nod. 'He played the fastest bowler like any other bowler, he had a lot of time and he didn't play the fastest bowler any differently,' recalls Raman.
120 kph or 140 kph, the same consistency of conduct.
Soham Desai, Team India's trainer till very recently, too has a Shubman tale, this one too is about his poise and composure. It's from his 200 against New Zealand in an ODI at Hyderabad. That was 2023, Shubman was 23 then. 'He didn't accelerate till the 47th over as he was following the team plan. Then he asked the dressing room for permission to accelerate or not. Once he got the go ahead, he did and scored his 200. This for a guy who wasn't even 25,' he says. Shubman doesn't get carried away, be it the starting of an inning or when he is nearing a 100 or even 200. It is that consistency of conduct again.
Leadership gurus value consistency of character. So do Indian selectors. Shubman has had lean patches, significant form dips and also chronic technical batting flaws. So why was he preferred over the other captaincy candidates?
At the crux of the observations made by Sharma, Raman and Desai lies the answer. What gave Shubman an edge over others was his leading-man looks and a reassuring persona. He has a face that exudes calmness. He hasn't had a rousing start to his Test career, he doesn't have a phenomenal captaincy record but strangely his cricketing fabric has captaincy material.
Shubman looks the part for sure. But can he deliver the lines on the big stage? Can he handle the swing in England? Can the young captain take on the Bazballers, handle the seniors in his team and work with the coach with an aura of authority around him?
Beyond his sparkling numbers and temperament, Shubman's strength in his commitment to his craft, aversion to peacockery and that finely tuned sense of his own self-importance. Many of his peers were earmarked for greatness before him, a few he had played under, but they faltered and were left behind.
At the junior level, Shubman was denied captaincy. At Punjab, he played under his friend and present-day T20 basher Abhishek Sharma. In the Under-19 World Cup, it was Prithvi Shaw who led the team. He didn't see it as a setback, it didn't compel him to change his character. He wasn't an eager beaver. Shubman didn't try to catch the attention of the coaches, he didn't try to show that 'he too can lead.'
Coach Raman remembers the bright batsman who kept to himself but it wasn't because he didn't have much to say. 'He was not the captain or a vice-captain, maybe he felt it was better not to really try and impose himself on the team management. Whenever he was asked, he would always be very keen to give his views. He was not what I would call a forthcoming guy, who would venture into volunteering to suggest things at meetings,' recalls Raman.
His early days in the senior Indian team too were similar. On the field, he wasn't in the captain's ear all the time. Now, it has come to light that he was busy watching, listening and imbibing. The other day, in a Skysports interview, he said he picked a few captaincy attributes from his seniors – Virat Kohli's proactiveness and Rohit Sharma's tactical nuance.
Shubman loves preparing for the road ahead, from the time he picked his bat as a 4-year-old. At Chak Khere Wala, the Punjab village on the Pakistan border, he would watch Sachin Tendulkar on telly and try to bat like him. In the courtyard of his sprawling ancestral home, Shubman would chuck the ball against the wall and quickly take guard to hit it straight, just like Tendulkar.
He was self-driven but having a cricket-obsessed farmer father, who didn't believe that academics was the only path that leads to success and wisdom, helped. The family moved to Chandigarh for Shubman's cricket. From the age 8 to 14, every day of his life, the batting prodigy batted for close to 6 hours.
Such was his family's backing that Shubman couldn't understand why his fellow juniors complained that their parents wanted them to leave cricket and focus on studies. Who does that? the boy would wonder.
Though, there would be occasional moments of weakness. What if cricket doesn't work out? That's when he would tell himself that there was always the family's large swathes of land in his village to fall back on. There was always the option of being a landed farmer, like his grandfather and father.
Unlike his peers, the ones with modest means traveling on train from Virar to Churchgate or Roorkee to Delhi in a bus, Shubman was at peace. He had a Plan B but he was fully-committed to Plan A. He was never anxious, defensive or insecure. In a crowd of hopefuls, he stood out because of his confidence to make it big. This wasn't wishful thinking but a process-driven pursuit.
Abhay Sharma saw the making of a confident Shubman.
'From the beginning, he was disciplined. He understood his game, maintained routines, was punctual for the gym, and focused on his skills. He is confident, not overconfident. You can see that focus in his eyes. This is very important as a leader. International cricket will bring different pressures, but I'm sure he'll handle it,' he says. And then he says those magical words: 'He knows how to conduct himself, he is also consistent which is why everyone likes him.'
Trainer Soham speaks about how Team India benefited from getting a ready-made complete cricketer. 'He is very clear about what he wants. He had a desire to be a complete package when he gets into the Indian team. He is system-oriented about his diet, training, and recovery. With him it's never like, 'okay I am here now, what do I need to do?'
Indian cricket's ultimate committed man Virat Kohli too had drifted from the path after success at the junior level. He had his moment of realisation when one day, in his early 20s, he stood in front of the mirror and saw his puffed up face and much-abused body. There have been a few stray rumours and gossip magazine speculations but Shubman has broadly walked the straight line that has taken him to the top. India captain at 25 – is a testimony of the consistency of his conduct.
The English shores aren't new for Shubman. He has been there and even done it too. Starting from the India Under-19 days. Sharma and Raman recall two different innings in England that have stayed in their minds.
First Raman and his memories of a hundred at Kent. This was the tour when the coach had given simple advice to the batsman. 'He was too keyed up to do well, so I had asked him to relax a bit,' he says.
The English bowlers would suffer at the hands of a relaxed Gill. 'I remember the 100 he got in one of the one-dayers in England. The first 80 runs, the domination that I saw from him, I don't think that's ever been seen by entire sides. Everybody went absolutely gaga over his ability and his talent,' he said.
Raman would follow the career of his one-time ward at the senior level. He would cheer his highs, observe his lows and appreciate his ability to bounce back. 'He's grown in confidence both as a cricketer and also as a person. Along the way, he's also understood what it is that he can do, what he shouldn't do,' he says.
So what is it that Shubman the batsman should not do in England? 'Not trust the pitch,' says Raman with a laugh. 'By that I mean he should try and ensure that his eyes are glued on the ball since there's bound to be a little bit of lateral movement. He's got to try and play a little bit late. In England, you've got to start moving a trifle late because of the moisture, because of the heavy atmosphere, the ball may not come as quickly as it comes in other places in the air.'
Raman also gives the weather warning. 'There's no guarantee as far as English weather is concerned. So every session is going to be different, every half an hour is going to be different,' he says.
Shubman's other coach Sharma is confident that he can do all that. He too banks on his memories for his prediction. Sharma remembers his under-19 days and his hundred at Brighton. That was the tour, Sharma had backed him to play at No.3 and had spent long hours giving him throwdowns. The two had formed a bond.
'I still remember after he got the man of the match award, while everyone was on the ground, he walked towards me, thanked me and touched my feet. It was an emotional moment,' he says.
'Years later, we met again, by then he had become an India team regular. This was Jaipur during the Ranji season. I was coaching Delhi and he was playing for Punjab. Both teams were having nets, the ground was full. Just as Shubman spotted me.'
Being true to his consistency of conduct, Shubman touched Sharma's feet like he did when he was a promising junior.
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