Nasser Hussain: Shubman Gill's Captaincy Lacked Kohli-Sharma 'Aura,' Was 'Reactive' in Test Loss

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has offered his analysis of India's recent Test match defeat in Leeds, echoing Ravi Shastri's sentiments regarding Shubman Gill's captaincy and the team's need for a seam-bowling all-rounder. Hussain contrasted Gill's leadership style with that of his predecessors, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, while also raising concerns about India's slip catching and lower-order batting collapses, which ultimately contributed to England's five-wicket victory.

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

Hussain noted that Gill's captaincy appeared tentative, lacking the commanding presence associated with Kohli and Sharma.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. 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, "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 senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul 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 expressed surprise that neither Gill nor other senior players intervened to adjust Ravindra Jadeja's bowling strategy on Day 5, when the spinner 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... 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)."

Hussain also addressed India's persistent search for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing comparisons to past players who filled that role effectively.

"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."

The team's attempts to integrate Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have yet to deliver the desired balance in the lower order, as highlighted by the batting collapses in both innings, despite the team managing to score five centuries during the match.