THE GILL CURSE ?
Since the time Shubhman Gill has taken charge of the Indian Cricket team as captain of India's two most prestigious formats : TEST and ODI , we seem to be getting more insecure of the ICT's future with every passing match and every passing series . What started off as a really promising draw in England , is now looking very very dull after TWO ODI SERIES LOSSES IN 3 OUT OF WHICH THE RECENT ONE IS A HOME SERIES DEFEAT.
The biggest fear that lingeres around is this CRISIS with Shubhman's captaincy man , the only format where Rohit Sharma had bought in full security wrt winning games from tough situations , THE ODI's , seem to be drowning slowly in the puddle of GAUTAM GAMBHIR's coaching era . When Rahul captained in the SA ODI series , we still won , but shubhman gill has not been able to register a single series win for India , be it the Aussies first and the Kiwis later . The Point to be noted here is that Gill is way too underexposed to pressure situations to lead a team full of seniors with his own intent and mindset as it will always be influenced in some or the other way by our GG Bhai .
CONCRETE QUESTIONS :
Shubhman has been handed the entire team ON WHAT BASIS ? Why hasn't Shreyas Iyer been made captain ? What exactly does GAUTAM GAMBHIR want to do of the Indian Cricket team ?
THE DECIDER :
The decider started off pretty decent , there was great carry off the ball in Rana's first spell , Siraj slowly found rythm , ball was seaming up nicely , BUT THEN comes in. Daryl Mitchel , the hunk for NZ this series and smashes his 4th century against India in 5 games , becoming the first player to do so . He showed his domination against spin in the 1st two ODI's samshing 84 and 131* and now showed determination against Pace when tested in the 3rd . If perfect ODI template was a phrase , Daryl Mitchel is it's meaning . After a mammoth total of 337 was set up by NZ , the chase stll seemed quite possible taking into consideration our batting lineup . The expectations were highly inversed wrt reality and Wickets started falling like Dominoes in a game . And as usual , a very thoughtful interpretation of the 10 year 2016 challenge took place when Virat stood tall once again and anchored the innings till the very 45th over scoring his 85th international century with temporary but compact support from Nitish and Harshit {THE BEST GG MOVE} untill he mistimed the ball and another fortress : THE HOLKAR CRICKET STADIUM was breached , surprisingly not the first one in GG era .
WEAK LINKS :
Bowling is our weakest link in the ODI squad but no concrete measure have been take to correct that . Our own coach Ryan Ten Dostache voiced out very concerning statements about his own team player and the difficulties he might face , highlighting the ENVIRONMENT in the ICT right now .
This team looks like an Indivisualistic Ideology as opposed from the team culture and SELFLESSNESS Rohit and Dravid established .
As much as I try to comply with Gambhir and his interesting changes wrt the team , every series lowers his credibility and accountability as a coach .
If you observe , the Champions Trophy we won was because ROHIT LED THE SIDE.
Asia Cup we won and our T20I TEAM looks strong as SURYAKUMAR YADAV is leading the side , And both of these captains were a part of the Rahul dravid setup very substantially . If this analysis dosen't symplify the problem of the system , I don't know what does .
Shubhman Is not captaincy ready and that's the BLATANT TRUTH .
THE SOONER BCCI REALIZES THIS , THE BETTER IT WILL BE .
INDIA WITHOUT ROKO ??
Even as Rohit and kohli near their 40's , India's ODI side seems to be majorly reliable on them , as it was seen in the decider . And Gambhir's rumoured growing disconnect with both of them will make things even worse in the long run . Even after two decades of serving the INDIAN TEAM , very unfortunately I do not see a bright future for India in ODI's after they retire . From opening domination to anchoring the innings throughout , India is far from finding like to like replacements to these players .
There's a 6 month gap till June before both of them will resume national duty and that scares me to the brink as we have been through many UNEXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENTS in 2025 and no one is ready for more of them atelast from ROKO until the 2027 wc ends .
The only thing that keeps us fans going in these difficult times is just HOPE HOPE AND SOME MORE HOPE .
CONCLUSION:
This is not an indictment of Shubman Gill the batter, but a serious question mark over Shubman Gill the captain. Leadership at the international level is not handed out as potential—it is earned through fire. ODIs, the very format where India once prided itself on control, calm, and calculated dominance, now look reactive, insecure, and strangely unsure of their own identity.
THANK YOU
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