Shubman Gill, India’s vice-captain in white-ball formats, on Thursday lauded new head coach Gautam Gambhir for his clarity of thought, while hoping to establish himself as an all-format player in the coming months.
Gill will be the deputy to Suryakumar Yadav in the shortest format and the second-in-command to Rohit Sharma in the ODIs during India’s trip to Sri Lanka, beginning with the first T20I, here on Saturday.
This is Gambhir’s debut tour as India coach after he replaced Rahul Dravid, who vacated the seat after India’s T20 World Cup triumph in America last month.
“We are the world champions and we will look to play accordingly, and, hopefully, we will have more success under the new coaching staff. This is the first time I am working with him (Gambhir),” Gill told the media during a press meet here.
“But during those two net sessions, his intent and communication have been very clear. He is very clear about which player he wants to work with at a particular time and on which areas he wants to work with him,” he added.
While his eventual goal is to bring more success to the team, Gill also wanted to firmly establish himself as an all-format batsman across the conditions.
Though Gill was a travelling reserve with Team India during the T20 World Cup, he could not find a place in the 15, and the right-hander identified that as the first point of correction.
“During the matches before the T20 World Cup, I could not perform to the level that I was expecting from myself.
“In the upcoming cycle where we will play 30-40 T20Is, I will try to improve my performance as a batsman,” he said.
But the 24-year-old has set his eyes on the five-match Test tour to Australia later in the year and the subsequent Champions Trophy.
“We are playing some 10 (Test) matches before January, and I am looking forward to it, especially five of them in Australia. After that we are playing the Champions Trophy which would be really exciting.
“But these six matches (three T20Is and three ODIs against SL) are very crucial riding into the Test matches,” he said.
So, does getting appointed as the vice-captain in the limited-over formats add any additional pressure on him? “It (vice-captaincy) doesn’t change much. When I bat out there, I still need to perform and I need to win matches for the team.
“But when you are out on the field, you need to make a bit more decisions, and that’s the only difference,” he noted.
Gill said the thinking process of Gambhir and Suryakumar are quite similar in terms of their vision for the team.
“I think everybody is on the same page. I have played under Surya bhai, and I think both their (Gambhir and Suryakumar) way of communication and thinking is similar.” Post the retirement of Rohit from T20Is, Gill will have a new opening partner in Yashasvi Jaiswal, and the vice-captain was confident of making the alliance work.
“We really enjoy batting with each other, especially the kind of shots that we both play, we complement each other. And being the right-left combination…our partnership has been good in the matches we have played together.
“I think we have two 150-run partnerships. We have a very good understanding and communication between us and that’s very enjoyable,” he explained.
Gill also had a word of praise for Abhishek Nayar, the newly-appointed assistant coach of India, with whom he had worked at the Kolkata Knight Riders.
“He (Nayar) puts in a lot of effort on the ground. He stays with the players until they are satisfied with their own skills. It’s his biggest plus point,” he added.
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