“It won’t be easy for him” - Ricky Ponting on Shubman Gill as Indian Test captain

Former Australian captain and Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has opened up on the BCCI selection committee picking the Indian top-order batter as the Indian Test captain for the England tour, scheduled to take place from June 20 at Headingley, Leeds.

Ponting feels that while Gill has been exceptional in white-ball formats, he has got a little bit of work to do in Test cricket with the added pressure of Indian team captaincy. Moreover, he has to deal with the absence of veterans like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravi Ashwin.

“His white ball form has been incredibly good. He’s got a little bit of work to do, on his Test match batting. And that’s never easy when you’re a new captain, to have to worry about your batting to the degree that he’s going to have to, it won’t be easy for him,” Ponting told PTI.

Moreover, Ponting revealed that he vouched for Gill as the captain for the Sydney Test earlier this year in January when Rohit Sharma decided to step out of the XI. However, Jasprit Bumrah went on to lead in that game, which India lost by six wickets eventually.

“I actually named him as captain for the Sydney Test match last summer when Rohit didn’t play that game and there was a bit of an injury cloud over Bumrah, or as that game went on, Bumrah actually broke down in that game,” he added.

Furthermore, Ponting hailed Gill for his exceptional captaincy skills on display for the Gujarat Titans. Notably, the Titans made it to the playoffs in the IPL 2025 season, but failed to move past the Eliminator, losing to Mumbai Indians.

And look, I don’t know Shubman that well. I’ve spoken to him six, eight, 10 times, maybe the last couple of years around different things and around batting and around leadership. He’s done a great job with GT (Gujarat Titans), no doubt about that. But he just seemed the sort of guy that the extra responsibility wouldn’t faze too much. It seems like he’s got a really level head on his shoulders. He’s someone that’s going to be around in Indian cricket for another 10 years, Ponting stated.

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