Sanjay Manjrekar: Shubman Gill's Captaincy Lacked Kohli's Aggressive Pursuit of Wickets in Leeds Test

Former India cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar compared Shubman Gill’s captaincy style with Virat Kohli, following India’s defeat in the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. England beat India by five wickets in the series opener as they chased down the massive score of 371 on Day 5 of the Test.

As a result, Gill became the sixth Indian Test captain to begin his captaincy tenure with a loss. Following India’s loss, several experts called out Gill for his defensive captaincy as he had men marking the boundary right from the start of the England innings.

Recently, Sanjay Manjrekar also shared his views on Gill’s Test captaincy debut and said that he was far too defensive.

“Overcast conditions, I know the ball wasn't doing too much, but they pre-empted the English approach and had a far too defensive field. I hate to bring Virat Kohli as a comparison because it's unfair on the young man, but you can just imagine Virat Kohli in that situation,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

Furthermore, Manjrekar also stated how Kohli would’ve handled things if he were captaining in Leeds and said that the former India captain would’ve gone for wickets.

“Whether they would have got wickets or not, Kohli would have shown the opposition that he's trying to get them out. Gill is not that kind of personality, nor that kind of captain. But maybe don't go so defensive, pre-empting things,” he added.

On the personal front, Gill started his captaincy tenure by silencing his critics with a marvellous innings of 147 in the first innings and became just the fifth India captain to score a century on captaincy debut. Meanwhile, after losing the first Test, Gill as a major task at hand to regroup his men and prepare them for the second Test, set to begin from July 2 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

India have never won a Test match at the venue, having lost seven out of eight matches played. The Shubman Gill-led side will be up against history as they aim to level the series in the upcoming encounter.