Test Match Special - Shubman Gill, The Prince

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

We profile India’s new test captain Shubman Gill who could become one of cricket’s superstars. Simon Mann is joined by Cheteshwar Pujara, Deep DasGupta, Michael Vaughan, Prakash Wakankar and Andy... Zaltzman. They ask if Gill could be the player to follow in the footsteps of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

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Starting point is 00:00:39 you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and Cs and Cs apply. from BBC Radio 5 Live. When it comes to test cricket, India have lost three huge names in recent months with the retirement of Virak Koli, Rohit Shama and Arashwin,
Starting point is 00:01:13 but they are unearthing some new superstars, especially their captain, the Prince. Gill on 98, some width there, and he slashes a drive for four through the club. There's a hundred in style for Shuffling Gill, an almighty roar and a swish of the helmet, and a huge hug for Roe. Rishab Pants. He looks a little emotional to Shubman Gill.
Starting point is 00:01:34 First match is India captain, a princely hundred, and there is the bow towards the dressing room. A kiss of the bats. First match is India captain, first test hundred outside of Asia. And he's helping to fit his team into an extremely strong position now, 304 for three. But for Shubman Gill, India's new captain, he's stood tall at 102, not out. running away from us into Gill starts at the over driven beautifully through extra cover for four to the left of Midoff wasn't far away from Midoff a little overpitched but he's in such good touch at the moment Gill and everything about his body is moving
Starting point is 00:02:16 perfectly the technique is perfect he's just sidling into the ball there's no real flourish he just places the middle of the bat on the ball and then places the ball where fielders are not and his tongue with Gill on the 199 tongue bowls to India's captain's down the leg side it's pulled away down towards fine leg it's a single but it means a lot for Shubman Gill it's his first test double hundred off comes the helmet the bat is raised fantastic moment for India's captain under pressure after that defeat that headingly that he has made the most of Ben Stokes's decision to put India into bat and he's come up with a double hundred this is worked at the on side they're going through for quick single they're going to get there they do that is the hundredth run for Shubman Gillies third three-figure score in this series he's only had four inings quite remarkable his eighth hundredium test cricket in just 34 matches had to go with 269 in the first innings he has got the wood over England they do not
Starting point is 00:03:22 know how to bowl at him another virtually flawless display and well he could be on for a a record-breaking summer at this rate. He's soaking up the applause as well he might. He's been quite untouchable. There's the bow from the Prince of Indian cricket. He certainly made a big impression with the bat since taking over as captain, but is he going to follow in the footsteps of those legendary players
Starting point is 00:03:49 like Sani Gavasker, Satchin, Tendulka and Virat Koli, or are we in danger of putting too much pressure on a young man? Well, we can look at Shubman Gill. from Chedeshwar Pajara, Deep Dasgupta and Michael Vaughn shortly. I'm also going to hear from Prakash as well. Tell us a bit about his background. Let's just look at the bold facts to start with. Where is he in his career, Zoltz, and what does he achieve so far?
Starting point is 00:04:15 Made a decent start to his test career in a series in Australia that India won, including a superb 91 in the decisive fourth innings of the final test. But thereafter, it'd been rather up and down, and reasonably well in tests in India and averaged 42 in the 17 tests he's played at home. But since that debut series, outside Asia, he'd really struggled, scored just 300 runs in 10 tests, average 17 before this series. And having been promoted to Captain the Side,
Starting point is 00:04:45 made his highest test score 147 in the first test. He'd never got past 130 in his previous test hundreds, first five test hundreds all child hundreds rather than daddy hundreds. but has rectified that spectacularly in this series, just the seventh player to make centuries in both of his first two tests as captain. So he's made this wonderful start to his career as captain. For a long time, much like Olli Pope for England,
Starting point is 00:05:13 his first-class stats suggested there was a much better player than we were seeing in the test arena and outside test cricket, averaging 62 in first-class cricket. So Indian cricket and world cricket have been waiting for the full flower of Shubman Guild that we're starting to see it in this series. He's done very, very well in one day international cricket as well. Yeah, I was just going to come to that, actually. His white ball record is fabulous as well.
Starting point is 00:05:39 IPL, for example, a couple of years ago, 890 runs in a season for Gujarat Titans who've been one of the outstanding teams, actually, in recent years in the IPL. He's had a fabulous time of it in whiteball cricket. So it's not just in red ball, it's also whiteboard. ball. Let's have a look at his background. Prakash is here. I mean, let's go back a bit further. You know, we've seen him emerge in recent seasons. We've seen him in the IPL. We've seen him played in the World Test Championship final. We've seen him here. Produced two magnificent hundreds in this series. But go back, go back to the start, Prakash.
Starting point is 00:06:18 Well, Shuban Gills was born in the district of Fazilka, which borders Pakistan and the international border in Punjab. His father, Lakwinder Singh, who's an agriculturalist, and is now a well-known mushroom farmer, really was somebody who himself had aspirations for cricket but couldn't really, you know, make those dreams into reality. So he constructed a little pitch in his farmland, and the story goes that he used to get the helpers in the farm to bowl to this young lad and had promised them 100 rupees every time they got him out, and that didn't have to pay too much, I'm told.
Starting point is 00:06:55 At some point in time, fairly early, he decided. that because he saw the potential in his son, he decided to move from his village to Mojali, which is where the Punjab Tricket Association, old stadium, as we call it, and you've been there many times, Simon, is located, so that he could get some proper coaching. So Gil does believe that his first coach was Lakwinder Singh. He then got trained under Rinku Singh,
Starting point is 00:07:19 who was in India under-19 player, but then went into coaching. And about 11 years ago, 2014, was when he made his under-16. debut and got a double hundred on debut in their under 16 tournament. From then on into the Vijay Hazari Trophy where he got, again, a couple of hundreds, he got a little over 1,000 runs in that season playing the under 16 group, got picked for under 19, and in the under 19 World Cup in Australia, he was vice captain and he was player of the tournament as well, an average of 124, including a semi-final 100 against Pakistan, which really then made the headlines.
Starting point is 00:07:57 kind of akin to what one of his key mentors in later years, Yuvrat Singh did when he played in that tournament in Africa and really burst on the scene as an attacking player. So Shubman Gill's story resembling many in recent years of a boy born in rural India, parent or somebody else spotting him early, giving him the opportunity at some self-sacrifice, coming out and backing him,
Starting point is 00:08:23 and he's then made it through to be able to then play both under the 19 for India and his senior debut in the in the test team as the as well as ODIs how easy is it to come through in India I mean he's a vast country with so many youngsters with that aspiration and not necessarily to play for India but to play for their provincial team state team whatever to make a success in cricket what's that competition like you know it's almost impossible if someone were to try and attempt to put these stats together I'd hazard a guess that for everyone who makes it into India colors at whatever age group it may be,
Starting point is 00:09:01 they're probably two, three hundred somewhere in the country, probably as good, but for one reason or another, haven't been able to come through. Look, like everywhere else, selectors in various levels, district, school, beyond have a role to play, someone's got to back you,
Starting point is 00:09:17 but I do believe that if you do get that initial break and then the sheer weight of runs or wickets does push you through. In modern day India, it's become very much the IPL story. I mean, there are more and more parents who are now telling their coaches at school or whatever level saying,
Starting point is 00:09:33 make my son or daughter into an IPL or a WPL cricketer, because that's where they see the early. And that in the long run, and that's the topic for a different day, Simon. But that in the long run is what I think boards around the world will have to grapple with in terms of building test cricketers as opposed to shorter format players.
Starting point is 00:09:51 When did you first hear the name, Shubman Gild? for me it was the under 19 World Cup I must confess that I hadn't really followed Punjab cricket as much and so when he played in their under 19 World Cup in Australia that was really where I think Shubman Gil the name which Shubman by the way
Starting point is 00:10:11 means a man with a clean heart or a positive heart and he certainly in the early days that we have seen is living up to that name well I ask the same question to his former Indian teammate Chetishua Pajara, when did he first come across him? It was during Bordecahouska Trophy in 2021.
Starting point is 00:10:32 He came in as a young player from the under 19 Indian team and he made his debut in Australia. It was his first game. It never looked like he was making his debut because he was so matured. He was so confident about his game and he started off really well in Australia and since then he has been progressing really well as a cricketer. So from the first time you saw him you thought
Starting point is 00:10:52 this guy's got what it takes to be a star? Yeah, it looked like that because the moment he made his debut, he started performing and the kind of winning he played at Caba in the last test match, which India ended up winning and that allowed us to win the test series as well. But that 90 against the Aussie attack was brilliant. And after that, everyone thought that this guy has a lot of talent. He can be successful in all three formats, not just in test cricket, but even in T20 and the ODI format. And he has proved that. So far, his test average wasn't at least. it is best, but he understands that and he knows that he needs to get that average up.
Starting point is 00:11:30 But starting with this England series, he has got a hundred and a double hundred now. So, yeah, he's back in form, he's scoring runs in test format also. And going forward, I hope that he carries on with this form in test format. What was he like behind the scenes when you first met him? He's very quiet, he's very calm. He wasn't talking much when he got into the team. But as he settled down, he started talking. he holds the he seems like a matured guy and he's he's very calm he never seems like he's
Starting point is 00:12:01 under pressure he and he also likes to talk about the game he also knows how to switch off so even in the evenings in the indian team we play fifah in the evening so he will come for FIFA games and he will switch off from the game once the game is over is he any good at that oh he's good he's very good him and reshapun both of them are very good at FIFA so they partner up and I have to find another partner to beat them. And so they normally win, do they? We have a good competition. I don't like losing, so I have to find a good partner.
Starting point is 00:12:32 I don't allow them to win easily. What about his sort of tactical nose back when he first came into the Indian side? I mean, did you sense that as well that he was constantly thinking in a sort of tactical way as well, that he might have what it takes to be a future captain? Yeah, look, when he came into the side, personally, I never thought that he would, eventually start leading the side but as he started playing more cricket and the moment he started leading
Starting point is 00:12:58 one of the IPL franchises that's when everyone started thinking that yes he has the potential, he can think about the game he has the potential to be a good leader because it's not just about what you think tactically but it's also about the kind of environment you keep in the dressing room
Starting point is 00:13:14 because you also need to get the best out of the players and you need to understand your teammates and he does that really well what do you feel he's like as as a captain I mean, is he strict? Is he lenient? Is he empathetic?
Starting point is 00:13:28 What sort of characteristics does he have? I think he's very relaxed. He is strict only when it comes to cricketing matters, so there is no compromise when you are playing the game. But apart from that, in the dressing room, I think he's very well relaxed. He has played a lot of cricket with some of the young players and even the senior players who are part of this squad.
Starting point is 00:13:44 He has played with Kail. He has played with Rishapant. They are good friends. Then some like Kuldi, Yashashv, all of them have played a lot of cricket together so he knows his teammates really well and that's why I feel that he has that understanding amongst the group and he also gets the respect what would you say is main strengths as a leader as a leader as I was saying you need to understand your
Starting point is 00:14:09 teammate you need to hold the fort when things are not going your way so when you start losing the game that's when you need to be together as a group also tactically yes you do as you play more because it's a young side so as you play more you start finding different ways of picking 20 wickets as a bowling unit and when you're batting what is expected out of your batters and
Starting point is 00:14:31 he's a shulman is very clear with what's expected from the batting unit and he has got good support staff as well so it's not just about you as a leader but if it is also about the coaching staff the support staff who helps you become a better leader there's tremendous focus on an Indian
Starting point is 00:14:48 captains that I mean everything you do is microscopically sort of analyzed. How do you feel that he will deal with that over time? I think eventually we'll learn. It's never easy. When you start, when you don't win the games, everything is scrutinized minutely and that's why there's a lot more pressure on the players and the leader as well. But that's where you need to stay calm. Because when things are not going your way, if you can stay calm, if you can keep a good environment in the dressing room, If you believe as a unit that you can win games, you can turn things around, then you can.
Starting point is 00:15:25 And when you are playing at the highest level for the Indian team, you will get criticism. That's part of the game. So you just need to accept and move on. But you always constantly, you always try and improve. You try and work on your game. And you constantly improve as a unit. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms,
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Starting point is 00:17:17 Nick. Time to start packing. We're talking about Shubman Gill, India's captain, who's played magnificently in this series so far. Fantastic for Shubman Gil. Michael Vaughn has joined me as well, and so too is Deep Das Kupta Prakash Wakankar is here as well. So we're talking about Shuban Gil. When did you first come across him deep?
Starting point is 00:17:39 Under 19 World Cup, and he was head and shoulders above everyone else. You know, Shubman Gil, the way he batted. He led the side as well, and you could see talent straight away, the way he batted, the way he kind of dominated. So, yeah, that was the first time I saw him then. Got a lot of feedback from Yuvrat Singh, spoke about him, and also Abhishek back then. Abhishek Sharma, the left-hander, has already played for India and the T-20.
Starting point is 00:18:12 So those two, he kept talking about their talent and how good they were. so yeah I mean and then obviously since then have followed that path I've been his his path so far and it's been quite fabulous we've seen a lot of him in the IPL where I mean he's lit up that hasn't he I had a brilliant one really brilliant season with Gujarat Titans yes and and this this season even as a captain and I think that's where I would expect him to pick a lot from Ashish the Gujarat Titans Ashesanara that is because the way he looks at the game is very
Starting point is 00:18:46 different he's now for those people who don't follow the IP out it's worth saying here that Ashish Naira he he's one of those coaches he doesn't sit back up in the dressing sunglasses on he's pacing the perimeter the whole time passing on advice isn't he so he's he's he's more like the captain himself i mean a wish i mean a wish he could walk around inside the field which is not allowed but he's always there but then the way that he looks at the game is very different we keep talking about processes he's quite literally one of those very few people who look at processes so he would come back and say you know even though somebody's gone for 50 in the four overs but he would come and say you know what he bowled well
Starting point is 00:19:24 out of those 50 runs 20 came off outside edges or where the batter didn't want to bowl or rather want to play so I think that should also help shubman get the leader does he feel like a natural captain or I mean is it sometimes you have a fine player and there's not quite no one else I mean because I mean they wanted it seems as if they were going to go Bumra, didn't it? And Bumra said, I'm not sure I can play all these matches. So is it, if you got the captaincy to some extent by default? I won't say by default, obviously, was one of the few people's whose name came forward, including someone like Rishapant as well. Bumra, yes, is a natural leader.
Starting point is 00:20:05 So again, like Bumra, he's one guy who's, I wouldn't say, was a natural leader in terms of how he speaks and carries himself, but in terms of his performance. is his skill set. So from that perspective, you know from his skill set or from his batting, he's going to lead from the front in terms of by example and by action, not by giving big speeches or talking about to people and one-on-one.
Starting point is 00:20:30 And it comes across to me he's that kind of a leader. It's like, you know, you watch me what I do, not what I say, kind of a leader rather than the other way around. So I think, and he still has to, and sorry, like I said, I mean, I don't think he's a natural thing he's a natural leader, but he's developing himself into one. So you've got to be a little patient
Starting point is 00:20:50 with him. Michael, I mean, you know what it's like to lead? What do you see in Shub and Gill? What does he need to improve on, I suppose? I mean, he's so young as the captain. I haven't seen enough really to kind of make judgment of the captain see side of things other than
Starting point is 00:21:05 you're there to bat. And so far, he's done that as well as any young captain, you know, two in two play beautifully. He's he's one of those players I'm with Deepa I saw him at the Under 19 World Cup many years ago
Starting point is 00:21:17 and straight away you just think elegance you know he's got even the walk you know he's got an elegant walk he just looks like a cricketer he looks like a not you wouldn't say
Starting point is 00:21:26 dominate him but he just plays in a way that you just want others to follow you know he bats in a way that I hope many young young kids are watching and go I'd like to bat like you know
Starting point is 00:21:36 Shubman Gill and the pressures that these Indian players are under and I just wonder now that there's no Virat there's no Roit Sharma. You know, that number four spot, and there's always legends in Indian cricket,
Starting point is 00:21:47 but you go Sunni Kavaskar, you go Satchin Tendulka, Virach Koli. And this kid has been spoken about as the next one. And it's been for a number of years, and it probably started back at the Under 19 World Cup
Starting point is 00:21:58 six years ago, where seven years ago, I think it was, where he would have had that tag. And to be able to cope with that tag, takes some doing it. It's quite a burden, isn't it, to carry it?
Starting point is 00:22:07 But now it is his. And the way that he started and the way that he bats and the way that he's clearly been able to cope with that kind of pressure of being the captain as the batter. I think tactically, I'm looking down and thinking there's areas that you can improve on the tactics, but it's kind of the last thing I look for in a captain. You know, can you bat? Can you play? Have you got the respect of your peers? And he's got all that.
Starting point is 00:22:29 But I just like the way that he bats. You know, that forward defence, we don't celebrate the forward defense enough. The way that Shubman went out at Headingly and the way that he went out yesterday, he realized it was a good pitch and won't get past that. and from there he extends to the drive and from there he can push back and play the cut shot and the pull shot it's a great lesson to young players
Starting point is 00:22:49 but he's not I'd say one dimensional he's got the one day game as well he's got the white ball game as well I've actually seen him play in white ball cricket I've said this on commentary I've seen him play some of the best white ball cricket I've ever seen
Starting point is 00:23:04 as well I mean so he has got that flamboyance as well I believe he's a very good example of a modern day three format play somebody who can adapt and that is what he's adapted and that's the best part about Shubman Gil because more often than not contemporary batters, their techniques based
Starting point is 00:23:22 around white ball cricket and then they try and manage and test match cricket. But something that Michael was talking about his defense was his weakest suit because he had that huge gap between bat and pad anything that coming into him would be quite challenging for him
Starting point is 00:23:39 but then he's and this happened while he was still playing IPL. Still playing IPL, he would go out and practice with the red ball as well knowing that there's a big England series coming up and he would adjust his technique. You don't see a lot of contemporary batters changing their technique, basic technique, the bat swing from white ball cricket to red ball cricket. And he's not just walking, he's walking the talk as well.
Starting point is 00:24:07 He's not just talking about test match being, you know, the biggest. challenge and all. He's actually making those sacrifices to be successful in test match cricket as well. If you actually, I mean, Ben Duckett for me is right up there with the best all-format players and he plays in a similar way. You know, you look at Shubman Gill, when he plays
Starting point is 00:24:25 whiteball cricket, the shots that we saw yesterday you see a lot of it in whiteball cricket, just extends those arms and he can hit it over extra cover, he can whip it through mid-wicket, plays the pool shot, the cut shot. Everything that we saw from yesterday and it's the same with all these players and there's only a small few that play all formats
Starting point is 00:24:41 of the game, but the ones that do, you generally see them playing the same shots and it's the same movements and, you know, Ben Duckett will play the ramp shot in test match cricket. He plays that in whiteboard cricket. Shubman Gill doesn't play those strokes. You know, he's more of a down the ground and hitting the V, but he times a cricket ball and he keeps his balance beautifully on that front foot. Now he's ironed out that technical floor that he did have, he did have a technical floor to that ball that comes back. I think we're going to see plenty more of Shubman goal, not just in this series, but over the course of the next few years, you kind of always look back to the 90s, early 2000. That was Sachin's time. And then Virat arrived, it was Virat's time. Well, I think
Starting point is 00:25:19 we're all going to enjoy watching Shubman Gill a lot over the next few years. People listen to this say, well, we've played two test matches so far and two pretty flat pitches. Let's see him when the ball's just nipping around a little bit. What about that, Michael? Oh, yeah, that's a challenge, you mean, but I can't imagine the ball's going to nip around too much over the next few weeks. Conditions are pretty flat. These Duke balls don't do anything like what the Duke ball used to do. He's back at number four. So unless India lose two in the first ten overs,
Starting point is 00:25:48 you know, he's going to be out there when the ball's a bit softer, a bit older, and he should be able to capitalize on that. The pitches now in the UK are different. You know, the conditions have changed. And, you know, you prepare yourself to come here in the old days, and you would be preparing to kind of leave the ball
Starting point is 00:26:02 and that big out-swinger, I guess, facing Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. And, you know, the ball would swing after 60-70 overs with the Duke ball. that doesn't happen anymore. So it's a nice time, actually, as an overseas player to be coming into face, because there's no Broaden Anderson, and the ball's not doing anything like what it used to do.
Starting point is 00:26:20 So full credit, you go back to Virat, and when he scored 100 here, against Jimmy Anderson, and that ball was doing all sorts. Now, that was a special innings, but I do look at Schumann and think his technique should look after him when the ball does a lot more than it has done in this test match, and obviously the first test at headingly. Deep and Prakash, what about when the scrutiny is really ramped up?
Starting point is 00:26:44 I mean, there was some after Headingley, wasn't there? First Test match, it was a game you feel India, they could easily have won the match. A few things, they've done a few things better. But inevitably, even an Indian captain, I touched on it with Cheteshwabajara just there, that the focus is just intense, isn't it? I mean, first of all, just give us a sense of that. I mean, look, and Deeps experienced some of that himself in his individual capacity, But the reality is, I've always maintained that the toughest job in Indian cricket
Starting point is 00:27:13 outside of being, in India, outside of being Prime Minister of the country, is the Indian cricket captain. It is almost impossible. I mean, you can't go anywhere. You have virtually no privacy. You don't have a private life because the 1.4 billion Indians believe you belong to us. So what you eat, where you go, who we are seen with, what you're doing. All of that is constantly under scrutiny. and with the 400 and counting channels and media people that we have,
Starting point is 00:27:41 there's no escape, which is why one of the things, when people come out to places like the UK or South Africa, Australia, they love it because they have a degree of freedom. But I think from a managing expectation and straying on the straight and narrow, I think is something that is forced discipline, and you have to do it. You have to understand, like Deep said, things will happen which you didn't mean to.
Starting point is 00:28:04 And it's happened with everyone. It's happened with Mr. Gavaskar. It's happened all the way up to Roi, Sharma, and Virat Koli. And it'll happen with guilt. When it does, how do you manage? And so far, like Michael said, body language, behavior, upbringing, seems to be a man firmly grounded. Something that you asked Cheteshwar about his strengths.
Starting point is 00:28:24 I think his biggest strength is handling pressure. And that's what he's done from a very early age, as Michael mentioned. That thing about being the prince in Indian cricket. while Virat was the king, you had the prince, he's handled that very well. And there's been a lot of criticism, him not scoring outside Asia. He's handled that very well. Leading Gujarat Titans in the IPL, in the absence of Hardik left, and there were a champion's side.
Starting point is 00:28:52 Obviously, first year wasn't that great. They were, what, eight out of ten teams or nine out of ten teams, handled that very well. So I think his biggest strength, apart from him the batter, as far as captains is concerned, he's very great. good in handling pressure. And as an Indian captain, as Prakash mentioned, the pressures are, you can't even imagine. You can't even fathom the kind of pressure that an Indian cricket captain has. So that's where I think his biggest strength as a leader, as a captain, is
Starting point is 00:29:21 handling pressure. Sometimes the hardest thing to handle as a captain is when your form's great and his form is great with your team aren't winning. And that first tested leads, they should have won that game. He's got to have that mentality as a captain is that when you get on top, you've got to nail it. You know, you've got to be completely ruthless as a captain and as a team. And that's your job as the leader of that group in that dressing room to really fire them up to make sure that when they come out in the afternoon session, that they're on it.
Starting point is 00:29:47 And someone, as I mentioned before, who is not a natural leader, starting your captaincy with 200s and a double hundred out of that, does help you grow more as a leader, more voice in that dressing room. And that is something that I want to see Shubman, show that on the field as well be a little more vocal yeah the experience of that moment of realizing that when you're on top and you are dominating a game you make decisions that sometimes you look back and go oh no you've allowed the opposition back in it what about when it starts to go wrong as a batter as well then michael and you're in your captain yeah you have that lean spell yeah that's hard but i think now because he started so well he knows how to do that i mean i look back at when i started and i didn't start well with the bat in hand and it was like it was like it was tough because you're desperately trying to find that rhythm and that mindset when you go out to bat you just want to be the batter
Starting point is 00:30:40 you've got to forget the captaincy when you're bat and you're there to score runs for your team as you were as just a player and he's done that brilliantly so I mean he's such a good player of course he's going to have low scores but he's such a good player that I can't imagine he'll go through an ultimate lean spell where we're talking about
Starting point is 00:30:56 his foot movement and you know the way that he's playing he's done that the most important thing really when you start as a captain is to play and play well yourself so he's ticked that box with a huge huge tick now he's just got to improve his tactics slightly so i was just talking to him after the game yesterday and something he mentioned very interesting he said i said what changes have you made apart from the technical side and he said i was getting out outside india outside asia it was getting 25 and 30 and getting
Starting point is 00:31:24 out and i realized i wasn't enjoying my batting so i went back and one of the grounding figures in his life is his father his first coach as well and one of the first things he said his father said was yes well played but he missed out on a 300 exactly and and so that's what he's even though he's played this magnificent knock but he's still not happy still disappointed he didn't get a 300 and then he said i wanted to just enjoy batting and forget about dominating not dominating and things like that so that mindset of just going back to his he said my under 19 days my growing up days when i just wanted to back and enjoy batting. Forget about what's the end result, whether I'm getting runs or not. And that I thought
Starting point is 00:32:06 was a great insight into his head. So he's the prince. Is he going to become the king? Too early. He's got great. Too early. Too early. Look, this is the other thing that happens in India, right? You raise people on a pedestal so quickly. And then when things go wrong for a little while, boom, they bring them down mercilessly. The knives just go in. And so I think he'd be well-served. You know, these guys are 25 years old, but they've played so much international cricket, age group, otherwise, IPL, etc. I think they are far better placed to not let these things go to their head. I mean, you go back to, I always talk about Vinod Kamli as one of those players who had immense talent. There are many like that.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Couldn't do it for a variety of reasons. Won't go into all of that. But I think now there is a lot more support staff. Remember Shubman was under the watchful eye of Rahul Dravid. Who else? Who better than him? Yuvraj has done a lot of work like Deep said. with him so i think he's got people that he can go to if he does feel like that and i think he'll be
Starting point is 00:33:06 all right yeah i mean and especially his father i think his father is a good coach a huge influence on him for sure but also he understands the game really really well uh just kind of see what ajit used to be for satchin his brother absolutely you you see that in his father who who would and you need someone like that in your family especially in india and and being uh the name that he is now have become an Indian cricket. So I think that role would be very, very important, which his father is playing right now. Final thought, Michael, on that?
Starting point is 00:33:40 What's the future hold for you? I think he'll, whether he becomes the king in the next year, that's probably too soon. But over the course of the next few years, without any question whatsoever, he's the new superstar. I mean, you've got Risha Pant, you've got Yassuja as well.
Starting point is 00:33:53 I've said in an article in India that those three, it's their time to leave a legacy in 10 years' time of what they've done for Indian cricket. they've got a great opportunity. Someone called Sirio Vanchi as well, he's not a bad player, and he's about three years old or something, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
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