London, July 9: Former England player Mark Ramprakash has hailed Shubman Gill for his stamina, skill and hunger, saying the young India batter and captain has shown he is capable of filling the boots of the ‘Fab Four’ of world cricket. Gill scored 269 and 161 in the two innings of the Birmingham Test, adding to his 147 and 8 in the series opener at Leeds. He has totalled 585 runs in two Tests of the five-match series.
“We have to pay testament to his stamina, his skill and his hunger – not just for runs, but to set an example as the new captain of a young team,” Ramprakash wrote in The Guardian.
“We are coming to the end of a period that has been dominated by the so-called Fab Four – Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson – and the search has been on for players who can take over. “Gill has shown he can fill those boots and in a wonderfully orthodox style: he plays all formats and is brilliantly adaptable, but with a foundation of classic technique.”
Ramprakash, who played 52 Tests, said instead of captaincy affecting Gill’s performance, it has made him more focussed. “Captaincy can affect a player’s form detrimentally, but it seems to have focused him and his three highest Test scores have been made in the past three weeks.” (PTI)
