London, Aug 4 (IANS) Former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar believes the nail-biting six-run victory in the thrilling fifth Test at The Oval should ease the scrutiny on Shubman Gill’s captaincy as he adjusts to life at the top job. Gill’s first assignment as India’s Test captain ended in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, finishing with a 2-2 scoreline.

“Performing in a series like this certainly takes away all the doubts that one has about his ability to lead India because if he is scoring runs in his primary role as a batter, then I think captaincy is something that you learn on the go,” said Bangar on JioHotstar.

“There is never a perfect captain, and victories like these also lessen the burden of scrutiny as you settle into the job. So from that perspective, going unscathed in his first series and making sure that India never gave up and played as a united front where every player stepped up obviously the combination part can certainly get better once he starts to believe what are the things that are required to win a series and take a few bolder steps,” he added.

Gill was also the leading run-scorer in the five-match series, finishing with a whopping 754 runs in 10 innings at an average of 75.40, including hitting four centuries as a number four batter. “That will come with time, and I think that is why scoring those mammoth tallies in his very first Test series as captain also means something.”

“Maybe someone like the great Sunil Gavaskar, when he took up the Indian team, or Virat Kohli, when captaincy came to him, all of them had fabulous first Test series as captain, and then went on to lead India for a long, long time. So from that perspective, I think this is brilliant from Shubman Gill,” added Bangar, who also served as India’s batting coach.

He also felt the nail-biting win at The Oval holds huge importance for head coach Gautam Gambhir. “This is one of the special moments in the history of Indian cricket. This was a very important win for Gautam Gambhir as well. Yes, Shubman Gill has done some special things on tour.”

“But even for Gautam Gambhir, with all the combinations that were being tried, the kind of start he had as head coach of the team – losing to New Zealand at home, then going to Australia and losing a series there too – the team never gave up, because even Gautam never gave up in terms of whatever he was thinking about the team and the direction in which he wanted to take them.”

“The very fact that India kept fighting back after each setback – losing the first Test, winning the second, losing the third, drawing the fourth, and then to have a victory like this when the entire game was against you – they made this happen,” he concluded.

–IANS

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