Gautam Gambhir will enjoy working with a young captain: Sanjay Manjrekar-OxBig News Network

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the head coach of the Indian cricket team, Gautam Gambhir, will enjoy working with a young captain as they prepare to embark on their first big challenge, the England tour, to begin their new World Test Championship (2025-2027) season.

Manjrekar compared the results seen in India’s T20I side, where Suryakumar Yadav was made the new captain after Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shortest format, following the T20 World Cup win. He believes that Gambhir will be able to bring out similar results in red-ball cricket with Gill at the helm.

Gill was appointed captain of the Test side before the tour of England. He replaced Rohit Sharma, who retired from the longest format of the game weeks before Virat Kohli called it quits. Rishabh Pant was named vice-captain of a side that is undergoing transition.

“Gautam Gambhir, as coach, will enjoy a young captain with him. You can see him as a coach when he’s playing with Suryakumar Yadav as the Indian captain versus, you know, Rohit Sharma. He’ll enjoy that job. So there’s going to be a better kind of relationship between the captain and the coach,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.

‘GILL HAS NOTHING TO LOSE’

Manjrekar compared Gill’s appointment to be similar to that of Mohammed Azharuddin, who was made captain back in 1989 following Krishnamachari Srikkanth’s removal.

“The advantage that Shubman Gill has, this team has it was a bit like the team in the 90s when we went to New Zealand, where Mohammed Azharuddin, out of the blue as a young cricketer, was made the captain. You go with the feeling that you’ve got nothing to lose,” he commented.

The former cricketer is also of the opinion that Gill may have had to push himself for the role, considering the senior stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit called time on their Test careers. In addition, with Bumrah refusing the captaincy role due to his fair share of injury struggles, Gill may have been compelled to take up the leadership role.

“The big names have gone, Bumrah is not the captain, Gill, it’s almost like Gill had to do the job. So you’re not going to feel the pressure. And I think, because India and the selectors made such a big call, they’ll back him and be supportive,” he added.

GGill has played 32 Tests, scoring 1893 runs, including five hundreds. The Gujarat Titans captain heads into the biggest challenge of his nascent career after having led his Indian Premier League team to the playoffs.