Buttler speaks on Gill’s captaincy ahead of test series after player under the 25-year-old at GT in the IPL.
Buttler speaks on Gill’s captaincy abilities having witnessed them first-hand in the IPL season.
Jos Buttler says that in his debut series as India’s Test captain against England, Shubman Gill’s leadership will blend the “intensity” of Virat Kohli with the “more laid-back” leadership of Rohit Sharma.
Under Gill’s leadership, Buttler participated in the IPL this year, helping his Gujarat Titans (GT) team make it to the playoffs and amassing over 500 runs apiece. Buttler stated that Gill will be “his own man” while fusing the greatest qualities of his two predecessors in an interview with Stuart Broad for his new podcast, For the Love of Cricket.
“He’s a really impressive player and an impressive young man,” Buttler said. “He’s pretty calm and measured when he speaks, but [it’s] interesting, I feel like on the field he’s got a bit of fight about him; a bit of intensity, quite passionate. I think he’ll be a mix of Kohli and Rohit.
“Kohli [was] that sort of real aggressive [character], really transformed the Indian team, in your face, up for the contest. Rohit [was] a bit on the other side, a bit more laid back, very cool, calm, collected customer, but with that sort of fight. I feel like, from my time knowing Shubman so far, he’ll be a bit in the middle. He’s obviously learned from those two guys… but he’ll be very much his own man.”
The “stardom” of India’s top players is difficult for English fans to understand, according to Buttler, who has spent more time in India than any other England player of his generation. According to him, one of Gill’s main obstacles will be to make sure that, unlike Buttler near the conclusion of his England white-ball skipper, he does not allow the position to impact his batting.
“He talked about compartmentalising batting and captaining; so when he’s batting he just wants to be a batter, and then he will try and work on his captaincy and try and separate the two roles,” Butler said. “When you’re doing such a big job as being captain of the Indian cricket team, he’ll have to try and do that well and have some good people supporting him.
“I don’t think we can quite understand the level of interest and the stardom that these guys have. You see it around the IPL, you’re aware of it, but actually living that yourself… I think they say the Indian Test captain is like the third or fourth-most influential person in India, behind the Prime Minister etc. – so you really are put up on that pedestal.
“It’s going to be a huge job for him. He’s obviously captained two seasons of IPL cricket, which is a big, pressurised job and he’s sort of the prince. Kohli is the king, Shubman is the prince: that’s the narrative that they spin out there, and I feel that he’s the coming man… Stepping into that No. 4, it’s big shoes, isn’t it? Coming behind Virat, and Sachin Tendulkar before that as well. That’s obviously a huge role.”