Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta has slammed critics and defended young India captain Shubman Gill.The continued omission of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has triggered intense debate, especially after Joe Root’s record-breaking century in the ongoing fourth Test, where he eclipsed Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest run-scorer in Test cricket. Root, now on 13,409 runs, trails only Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of 15,291.Legendary Sunil Gavaskar had said Shubman Gill may not have had the final say in selecting the playing XI.Former England captain Nasser Hussain, in his column for The Daily Mail, has slammed the Indian captain. He wrote: “India’s performance has been littered with Shubman Gill mistakes.”However, Dasgupta, who is doing commentary for BBC Sport, put his foot down and came in support of Gill.“Seeing a lot of criticism of Shubman in the media. I will say it once again – it’s one of the toughest assignments for any Indian captain to captain in England,” he wrote on X.“And Shubman got this as his first assignment, with a young, comparatively inexperienced squad. He will learn on the job.“Might not agree with all his calls but we need to be more patient with him.”After losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan early in their second innings without a single run on the board, Rahul and Gill showed maturity and courage to negate the threat of a batting collapse on Saturday. The duo added a 174-run partnership before the close of play, significantly reducing England’s lead to 137 runs.
Rahul was unbeaten on 87, while Gill stayed not out on 78 and will have a big task ahead to take India towards a draw.Former England batter Jonathan Trott highlighted the physical and mental endurance shown by Gill after a taxing day in the field.“That’s where fitness – both physical and mental – becomes crucial, not just in T20s but especially in Test cricket. Gill scored around 50 before tea and then just 28–29 in the session after – that shows serious mental strength. He has the ability to score quickly when needed, but more importantly, he has the mindset to bat for time and play the situation.“When he came out in the second innings – after the chaos of that first over – we saw Shubman Gill, the batter. Maybe that moment helped clear his head. He realised he had to bat time and focus solely on getting his country, his team, into a position to save this game,” he said.
