‘He would have felt shell-shocked’ – Alastair Cook on Shubman Gill’s captaincy struggles

Former England captain Alastair Cook remarked that Shubman Gill must have felt “shell-shocked” when none of his tactics workec during the first Test at Headingley, Leeds. India suffered a defeat in the series opener of the five-match series despite scoring over 800 runs across both innings.

Cook sympathised with the young Indian captain, noting that multiple voices in decision-making may have complicated matters for him. He also admitted that Gill’s inexperience was evident throughout the match.

“I sympathised with the India captain, Shubman Gill, in that fourth innings. With it going round the park you could see lots of people out on the field making decisions and getting involved with DRS calls, and they got all of those wrong. You can read all the leadership books you like but until you are out there, there is no other feeling like it. I imagine he would have felt shell-shocked,” Cook wrote in his column for The Times.

Cook pointed out that a more experienced captain might have instructed the team to apply pressure on England. He also insisted that Ravindra Jadeja should have attempted something different with the ball to break the momentum.

“I think in India’s second innings a more established captain might have thought ‘we’re 340 ahead and five down, let’s put some pressure on England’. As it was they were bowled out with a lead of just over 370 anyway, but it might have helped their situation to have attacked a bit more,” Cook wrote.

“I thought Jadeja could have bowled into the rough slightly slower – instead he bowled in the way he might have done in India,” Cook added.

The former England opener also suggested that Nitish Kumar Reddy should be included in the playing XI for the second Test at Edgbaston and strongly vouched for the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav.

“I expect India to change their team. They might have to leave out either Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan and play Nitish Kumar Reddy, who can bat and also bowl some phantom seamers, and then they can play Kuldeep Yadav as an extra spinner,” Cook said.

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