‘He’s gotten to that stride very quickly’

Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes believes Indian captain Shubman Gill should make the most of the experience of senior stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli while staying true to his own leadership style. Rhodes backed the youngster to thrive as captain despite the intense pressures of international cricket.

Since replacing Rohit as India’s ODI captain, Gill has won six matches and lost as many, giving him a 50 per cent win rate. His next assignment will be a three-match ODI series against the West Indies, beginning in the last week of September.

“The key with being a leader is understanding that you’ve got these senior players around you, and it’s not a negative mark on your captaincy if you ask around for help, or for opinions and ideas. Obviously, as the leader and the captain, you have to make the final choice. That’s often the hardest thing about captaining so many experienced players, they all give you great options, but you now have to make the call. So, having the likes of Rohit and Virat in your setup, and Shubman has been pretty consistent in his energy levels, the way that he conducts himself as a captain, and prior to that, as a player, it’s all very consistent,” said Rhodes to JioStar.

“As long as he’s not trying to be anybody else, which is impossible, because when you’re under pressure, you always revert back to who you really are. He’s gotten to that stride very quickly,” he added.

Rhodes, who is currently the co-owner of Rotterdam Dockers in the inaugural European T20 Premier League, noted that teams travelling to Southern Africa for the 2027 ODI World Cup will need to adapt quickly to the varying conditions across venues. The tournament will be co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

“It’s interesting because what is impacted in the field is often the altitude. If you play at the coast, it’s different to playing in Johannesburg or Pretoria, where altitude affects it. Similar to what we’re trying to do with the ETPL, bringing cricket into Europe, we’ve also got Namibia and Zimbabwe, who are co-hosting the Cricket World Cup,” said Rhodes.

“The wickets in South Africa are pretty good, so there is not going to be much contest between bat and ball. There is good carry. I think from a point of view where you can hit down the line or through the line of the ball, as opposed to using the pace to run the ball down, the Indian players ramp the ball so well. They get inside and scoop the ball so well, so they’ve adapted really quickly to the modern world of cricket,” he added.

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