Shubman Gill lacks on-field aura of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma: Nasser Hussain

Shubman Gill's Test captaincy debut didn't unfold the way he would have hoped, as India suffered a five-wicket defeat to England in the opening Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Headingley on June 24. The match exposed several areas where India faltered, but it also brought attention to Gill's leadership style and on-field presence in his first outing as captain. While Gill exhibited instances of calm and composure, many viewers felt he lacked the decisive authority associated with his predecessors.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain shared his own views about Gill's leadership on Sky Sports, adding that the young captain appeared to be "finding his way" at the beginning of a new role. “I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You’ve got to be very careful in the first Test match; the people he’s (Gill) taken over from are Kohli and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn’t quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there. You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India,” Hussain explained.

He also noted that it looked like there were multiple leaders on the field, with senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul seemingly guiding Gill during crucial moments. Hussain described it as "captaincy by committee," a common occurrence when a new leader is still finding his footing. “I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you’re still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive,” he added.

Hussain critiques tactical oversight with Jadeja

Nasser also highlighted a specific moment involving Ravindra Jadeja that, in his view, reflected the gap in tactical sharpness. He pointed out that neither Gill nor any other senior member appeared to instruct Jadeja to use the rough patches on the pitch effectively—something that was heavily discussed in the commentary box. “A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner and go, you do know the rough is out there. Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher are up there, going, show us where that ball is pitching, and it was pitching nowhere near the rough. Ravi was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough,” Hussain observed.

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surprise, he added, “I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, ‘Can we go a little bit wider?’” But Ravi’s right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn’t control.” While Hussain acknowledged factors beyond Gill’s control contributed to the loss, his comments underline how leadership decisions—or the lack thereof—played a role in India’s defeat.