Nasser Hussain: Shubman Gill's Captaincy Lacks Kohli, Sharma's Aura; India Needs All-Rounder Solution

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has weighed in on India's recent Test defeat in Leeds, echoing Ravi Shastri's observations regarding Shubman Gill's captaincy and the team's need for a seam-bowling all-rounder. Hussain noted the differences between Gill's leadership style and that of his predecessors, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He also raised concerns about India's slip catching and lower-order batting collapses, which contributed to England's five-wicket victory.

Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill hold key leadership roles in the Indian Test team.

The Leeds Test marked Gill's debut as captain after Rohit Sharma's retirement. England successfully chased down a target of 371, their second-highest chase at home against India.

Hussain suggested that Gill's captaincy is still developing and lacks the commanding presence of Kohli and Sharma.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly," Hussain commented. "You've got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he's taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. I thought he didn't quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there."

He further elaborated, "You look down on those two previous names, and you immediately see who was in charge of India. I looked down from the press box, the commentary position, there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee, which can happen in your early days as a leader because you still [have] senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul [who] want to try and help you out as much as possible. I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive."

Hussain was also surprised that neither Gill nor any other senior players intervened to adjust Ravindra Jadeja's bowling strategy on Day 5. Jadeja, according to Hussain, failed to exploit the rough patches on the pitch effectively.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, you do know the rough is out there," Hussain stated. He also quoted Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher who observed that Jadeja's deliveries were not landing near the rough. "Ravi was saying, a bit slow, a bit wide, bowl in the rough. I was surprised that not one of the senior players or captains went to Jadeja and said, Can we go a little bit wider. But Ravi's right, they lost the game for two things that he couldn't control (catches dropped and batting collapse)."

The Search for a Seam-Bowling All-Rounder

Hussain also highlighted India's ongoing quest for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing comparisons to past players.

"The slip cordon and the catching were poor, something that India have done well in the last two or three years and the collapses. And that concerns me because India has a lower order with spin bowling all-rounders and has had for the last decade, which are magnificent. Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar Patel. In England, they are still looking, I think, for that seam bowling all-rounder, you know, someone like a Hardik Pandya, going back to Ravi's times, Kapil Dev or whatever, they are still looking for that lower-order bowler who can bat. And if they keep going for, what, seven for 41 and six for 30 or whatever, then this could be a quick series. They need to run down the order."

India's attempts to find this balance with players like Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have not yet yielded the desired results. Despite scoring five centuries during the match, the team suffered batting collapses in both innings.