Manjrekar makes U-turn on Captain Gill after 100

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar heaped praise on India Test captain Shubman Gill for ironing out his technical flaws in ENG vs IND 1st Test. The Punjab batter stayed unbeaten on 127 at the end of play on Day 1. Gill’s century in Leeds was his first-ever in England and in a SENA country.

Manjrekar praises Gill for ironing out technical flaws

Speaking on JioHotstar, Manjrekar revealed that he was against making Gill as the new Test captain following the departure of Rohit Sharma. He said that Jasprit Bumrah would have been his preferred and logical choice. However, Manjrekar claimed that he never thought Gill would fail as captain.

“Let me go right back to when he was made captain — I was against it, to be honest. I felt Jasprit Bumrah would have been the better and more logical choice, without thinking too far ahead into the future. I did not think it was the right decision at the time. But was Shubman Gill going to be a failure as captain? No,” Manjrekar said.

Manjrekar explained that Gill wasn’t a kind of player who would carry the anxiety of being captain into his batting. The former Indian cricketer pointed out that the batter was, however, evolving when it came to playing in overseas conditions. Manjrekar said that Gill had addressed technical issues in Leeds that were previously stopping him from getting a hundred in overseas.

“Temperamentally, we knew he would not carry the anxiety of captaincy into his batting — that was always clear. The only concern was that he was still evolving, especially when it came to overseas conditions. But today, he addressed key technical areas that had previously stopped him from getting a big overseas hundred. Yes, the pitch was good and the bowling wasn’t too challenging, but once those technical flaws were ironed out, everything else — especially his temperament — stood out as a strength,” he added.