“He didn’t quite have that on-field aura” - Former captain’s blunt statement on Shubman Gill after ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes newly-appointed Indian skipper Shubman Gill lacked the aura of his predecessors in the side's five-wicket defeat in the first Test against England at Leeds. The youngster took over from Rohit Sharma as India's Test skipper ahead of the five-match England Test tour.

However, despite the visitors' stellar batting performances in the two innings, Gill and his men failed to defend 371 in the final innings to fall 0-1 behind in the series. India also set a dubious record as the first team to lose a Test match after boasting five individual centuries from the batters.

Assessing Gill's performance as captain post-match, Hussain told Sky Cricket (via Hindustan Times):

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You've got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he's taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn't quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there. You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India."

He added:

"I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you're still senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive."

The Leeds defeat meant India's Test slump continued, with the side losing seven out of their last nine red-ball matches. The visitors entered the England series after consecutive Test series losses to New Zealand and Australia by 0-3 and 1-3 margins, respectively.

"Surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja" - Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain expressed surprise at the lack of proactiveness among the Indian players when left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bowled the wrong lines on the final day of the Leeds Test. The veteran spinner failed to use the rough outside the left-handers' off-stump effectively as opener Ben Duckett scored a match-winning 149 off 170 deliveries.

Jadeja finished with sub-par figures of 1/104 in 24 overs despite favorable conditions on Day 5.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, you do know the rough is out there. Ravi (Shastri) was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough. I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, Can we go a little bit wider. But Ravi's right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn't control," said Hussain (via the aforementioned source).

It was India's second consecutive Test in England, where they failed to defend a 370+ total in the fourth innings, following the hosts' successful run-chase of 378 in the final Test of the 2021/22 series.