Indian cricket team in a practice session ahead of the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. (Getty Images) TimesofIndia.com in Leeds: The five Tests against England is going to be a tough assignment for new captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir. Former India cricketer WV Raman feels Gill & Co. are in the same situation as MS Dhoni‘s team was back during the 2007 T20 World Cup, a tournament they won against all expectations.In an exclusive chat with TimesofIndia.com, Raman speaks about India’s squad, the challenge of five Tests, India’s ideal batting order and more.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Excerpts:Five Tests, not an easy place to tour. We haven’t won a lot. Came close the last time around, but it has been a long wait to put our hands on that trophy, which will now be called the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy.It’s a good thing it’s a five-Test series because the side can (make a) comeback. And for a young Indian side like this, with a new captain, new vice-captain, just about everything being new there, the five-Test series is ideal. And of course, as far as the change of the trophy’s name is concerned, that’s up to the administrators. We got to try and get on with it. And I’m sure that it’ll be a very exciting series, this one.
IND vs ENG: Rishabh Pant opens up on chemistry with Shubman Gill and England challenge
You mentioned new a couple of times there. New captain, new vice-captain. To start with… Shubman Gill is young, still a work-in-progress as far as Test cricket and Test batting is concerned. How do you look at Shubman Gill, the Test batter? Do you feel he is ready for the challenge – both as a batter and a captain?Now, whatever we’ve seen of Shubman Gill in Test cricket has given you the confidence that he’s capable of performing in that format as well. He did get useful runs in the tough, hard-fought series in Australia. Of course, England can always test the best batters. But again, that was at the start of his career. And we have a Shubman Gill here who’s seen a lot of things already, even though he’s 25. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s been around for a while with the Indian team. He’s been playing different formats. And he’s also developed that sense of accepting responsibility and dealing with responsibility by virtue of becoming the captain of the franchisee side in the IPL.So, it’s all a matter of him bringing into play the learnings that he’s had over a period of time. And for a young captain, what is important is the kind of support that he gets in terms of inputs from the other experienced members in the side. And of course, to just repeat the cliché, a captain is only as good as his team. A young captain needs his team to measure up, raise the bar and perform together. And that’s when a young captain will probably be capable of overcoming the challenges on a tough tour such as this.The support he gets and a captain is as good as the team. First, I’ll get to the team bit. What were your initial thoughts on the squad? You think it has ticked the right boxes?Spinners, yes, we’ve ticked the boxes. And even batting, maybe one-half of it. It’s just that the other half will depend on the slot that is provided to the batters, that’s given to the batters. And the role allocation, I think that is what will depend on. It depends on who bats on which number.And also, who it is that they want to be a part of this batting unit will be very important. Because we got the likes of (Abhimanyu) Easwaran and Karun Nair who almost forced their way into the side by sheer weight of their runs over a period of time. Now, the question is the level of confidence that the team management has on these two to give them the chances first up in the series.One player you would have seen closely is Sai Sudharsan. Not mixing formats here but he is riding that recency bias after a fantastic IPL and has looked very compact. Inspires confidence with his County outings. And the way he has modelled his game to be very correct. Do you reckon he could get a look-in during this tour?No, let’s not forget that Easwaran has been getting runs much higher than him over a long period of time. We have been having Easwaran as a part of the squad. We are not playing him. And that is again creating a lot of dilemma when the next selection comes up. We will have to try and reward him fully in the sense that there is no point picking him in the squad. We don’t have, let’s say, a player who has opened in the past, who is willing to open. There is a vacant slot at the top of the order. And here you have on the other hand, you have a player who has been opening right through his life, who has got runs every season almost. And then you pick him in the squad. When there is an opening slot which is vacant, you don’t use him. I think we need to first answer that particular bit. Again, we have got somebody who is making a comeback after a long period of time. And then he is not a spring onion now. He is into his 30s. He is experienced. He is also in the best of form.
Poll
Will KL Rahul perform consistently in the upcoming Test series?
You just mentioned Karun Nair. Someone who is coming back on good run in the domestic circuit, found his second wind, did well in the IPL on a couple of occasions, double-hundred for the India A set-up. But then one player who continues to slip under the radar is KL Rahul. He starts a series in very emphatic fashion but then kind of tapers off. How important are these nine Tests going to be for KL Rahul – five away and then four at home.Yeah, this has also happened on his last tour of England. He started off well and then he tapered down and this is something that has happened. We all know that. But again, still the fact of the matter is that he is experienced, he has got runs, he is capable of runs, he gives you the impression that he can get runs. So, he also is aware of the fact that he needs to step up as far as consistency is concerned. Now, the matter is very straightforward. You play him in the first three test matches, you see how he goes about it. Obviously, if he does well, you will continue him and then he has got to be told, yes, we are very well aware of the fact that you are talented, you have performed in all the three formats. Now, the time has come for you to up it in terms of consistency and a message has to be conveyed to him.And that’s the way to go about it. Failing which, you are anyway in a transition period. You got to try and look for other options.
I think this team is in the same situation as Dhoni’s team when they embarked on the first T20 World Cup. There are no expectations. So, that is a big advantage
WV Raman
Everybody is saying that this will be Gautam Gambhir’s team now, more than it would be Shubman Gill’s. What do you make of that, coach? And how important is this an assignment for Gautam Gambhir?It’s not all about the coach all the time. Yes, we all know Gambhir is a good tactician. He’s also a very intense man. And he’s also got the best interest of the team at heart. So, we got to try and forget the fact that everything should be related to the coach. We didn’t do this with his predecessors. We are doing it with him, if you remember. So, coach is always somebody who’s got to stay in the background. We should allow the coach to do his job. And he’s going to take all the decisions based on how he sees things. Because he’s the one who is completely aware of what is exactly happening with each and every individual in the side. And then as far as this team is concerned, this will always be a team under the title of a captain who is successful. People are not calling this the Rohit’s team until he started succeeding as a captain in white ball cricket. The same happened with Virat in red ball cricket. So, it gets dubbed as the captain’s team when he starts doing well when he stays put for a long period of time as a captain. But as far as this particular team is concerned, even though there’s a lot of apprehension about how the series will pan out, I for one think this team is in the same situation as Dhoni’s team when they embarked on the first T20 World Cup. There are no expectations. So, that is a big advantage for this side. That’s a real big advantage for this side. And they have everything to gain. The only way is up.And I think therein lies this team to spring a surprise. Because let’s not forget that even though India has not won many series in England, we’ve always sprung a lot of surprises there. Starting from Chandra’s (Bhagwath Chandrasekhar) spell and Ajit Wadekar‘s series win in 1971, India has sprung a surprise or two always in England.
Nick Knight EXCLUSIVE: On Shubman Gill and absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma in England
Before I let you go, I’ll put you on a spot there as I always like to do. Your prediction for the series, coach. Who’s winning this one? And by what scoreline?All I would like to see this team do is to play good cricket. I am not a great fan of this numbers game.That’s a diplomatic answer, coach. You gotta give me a scoreline.A pragmatic answer. You always put people in a spot. I always give pragmatic answers.
