India captain Shubman Gill stated that commanding the national team is a tremendous honour, reflecting on the team’s recent triumph in a two-match Test series against the West Indies, which they won 2-0. With the series victory, India improved their position to third place on the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 Point Table.
Gill discussed the problems of captaincy, stating that a leader must sometimes make bold moves to tilt the game in their team’s benefit. He outlined some critical tactical decisions made during the West Indies series, such as enforcing the follow-on and limiting Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bowling.
“It’s a really big honour (to lead India), I’m kind of getting used to it. Managing all the players, leading this team is a great honour. (Learning experience) It’s about taking the right options in the given situation. I try to make the most probable decision in the given situation that we are in that game. And sometimes you have to make bold decisions, depending on which player can get you certain runs or can get you those wickets,” said Gill in the post-match presentation.
“(On enforcing the follow-on) We were around 300 runs ahead. The wicket was quite dead. 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. (On playing Nitish Reddy) He didn’t really get to bowl any over in this match. We don’t want players to only play matches 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,” the 26-year-old added.
No captaincy calls for Shubman Gill while batting
The 26-year-old stated that as a batter, it was important to make the right decisions that would ultimately help the team win. He believed that the primary goal for any player should always be to contribute to the team’s success. Gill also shared his thoughts on the upcoming Australian series, expressing that it would be a significant challenge. He is set to lead India in the ODIs for the first time since taking over the white-ball captaincy, while in the T20I series, he will act as the vice-captain.
“When I’m going out there to bat, batting is something that I’ve been doing since I was 3 or 4 years old. So, when I want to go out there, I just want to make decisions as a batsman. The one thing that you always strive for is how you can make your team win a match. And as a batsman, when I’m going out there, that’s my thought that I have. (On the Australia series) It’s a long flight, maybe we can plan on the flight,” Gill concluded.
The series against Australia will begin on October 19, with the Optus Stadium in Perth hosting the opening match of the tour. This game will also mark the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to the international arena, as they are all set to don the Men in Blue jersey after a prolonged absence of over six months. Three ODI matches will be followed by five 20-over fixtures.
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