"Under Virat Kohli, everyone knew..."- New Zealand coach assesses Shubman Gill's captaincy in ENG vs IND 2025 Test series

In his debut Test series as the captain of the Indian team, Shubman Gill did a great job by drawing the five-match red-ball series at 2-2 in England, after the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the longest format of the game. He smashed four centuries with the bat in the seven-week trip, which was close to breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s record for most Test runs in a series as an Indian batter.

The batting all-rounder of the New Zealand side and the head coach of the women’s side, Craig McMillan, assesses the Test leadership of the Punjab-born. He also reckoned that Gill would need to talk with head coach Gautam Gambhir and work out how he would look to play under him.

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“He looks like a good captain. The first series is very tough. In such a pressure-cooked series, he probably made a few mistakes. But you expect those in his first series. He will get better with experience. He is the future, so India will invest in him. He will get to know his team’s game, which I think is important, and the style of play.” McMillan expressed in a recent interaction on The Times of India (TOI).

New Zealand coach explains Shubman Gill’s leadership during ENG vs IND 2025 Test series

Gill struggled in a few patches of the series when he needed the support of the experienced campaigners like Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul. That was mainly around setting the field, or holding his nerve in crunch situations, or making interesting bowling changes, something which he learnt by the end of the red-ball series.

“When India had played under Virat Kohli, everyone knew how they had played — they had been aggressive. It might be a bit different because of Gill's personality. He has got to work that out with the coach Gautam Gambhir.” McMillan shed light on TOI.

India has no international clashes in August before their focus moves to the two-match home Test series against the West Indies. They will later fly to Australia for the white-ball series, followed by the home all-format series against South Africa.