"I picked that up" - Shubman Gill reveals his major learning from Virat Kohli’s leadership ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Team India's newly-appointed Test captain Shubman Gill has revealed his learnings playing under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the format. Gill stated that he picked up Kohli's proactiveness as one of the major traits and suggested that he will deploy during the England tour.

Although it was under Rahane that the 25-year-old made his Test debut, he played six matches in the format under Kohli. Nevertheless, Kohli stepped down as the Test captain in 2022 and Gill slightly struggled to nail a spot in the Test side despite a promising debut series.

When asked by Dinesh Karthik during an interaction on Sky Sports as to what he learnt during his time playing under different captains in his career, Gill said he observed that Kohli is very flexible with his plans. The right-hander elaborated:

"Yes, definitely a lot of things when I played under Virat Bhai. I think his proactiveness in the Test matches with the field or with the ideas or with his thinking was something that I liked and I picked that up - he was very proactive with his thinking. If he thinks that okay this plan is not working he would immediately have another plan communicate to the bowler that what he wants from them and can seem like he is not aggressive."

Gill went on to explain that Rohit has a habit of swearing at players but it doesn't come from the heart and it's for the benefit of the team.

"But Rohit bhai is also very aggressive in terms of his tactics he's a tactically, he's quite an aggressive captain and he is someone who is very clear with his communication prior to the matches during the series and even after the series what he wants from the players and the kind of environment. I think Rohit keeps like even if Rohit is swearing at you, you would not take it to your heart that's just kind of his personality. I think that's a great trait to have you know, but even if he's being hard on you, you know that he it's not coming from his heart it's coming from a team perspective."

Rohit ended his Test career ahead of the England tour after a forgettable series in Australia last year. The right-hander had managed only 31 runs in the three Tests Down Under and 'opted' out of the final game in Sydney.

"Gauti bhai focuses more on the kind of attitude or the mindset that he requires from the team" - Shubman Gill

Gautam Gambhir. (Image Credits: Getty)

When asked to analyse the coaching styles of Ashish Nehra and Gautam Gambhir, Gill said it will be fun to deal with slightly contrasting natures but said their commitment is the same. He added:

"It'll be very fun. Ashupa is very like you said very hands-on, very animated and very expressive in terms of his personality and your personality kind of reflects on your coaching style as well, so he's very expressive. Whereas Gauti is very determined, very committed and he's also very clear with his communication what he wants from the players and what kind of mindset that he would want the players to have."

"I think Gauti bhai focuses more on the kind of attitude or the mindset that he requires from the team or the players. But I think they're very different personalities but at the end of the You know you're all working towards a common goal the paths might be different but you're trying to reach the same destination."

India haven't won a Test series in England since 2007.