Kumble on Gill: 'Captaining India is different from captaining franchise'

Former Indian cricket captain Anil Kumble expressed confidence in Shubman Gill's ability to lead the Indian Test team during a chat at an Australian Summer of Cricket 2025-26 event in Mumbai on Monday. The 25-year-old Gill is set to captain India in the upcoming five-match England tour, marking a transition phase following the Test retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin.Kumble addressed the unique challenges of leading the Indian national team compared to franchise cricket while discussing Gill's appointment.

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"Captaincy for India is slightly different to captaining a franchise or any state side; it comes with its own responsibilities and the pressure. But I'm sure Shubman will figure it out and I think he is capable," Kumble stated.The legendary spinner acknowledged the significant change in Indian cricket's landscape with the departure of three key players.

"Transition is bound to happen and with three pillars of Indian cricket, for a long period of time, not being available. It's got to be different for us too, as fans too, when the Indian cricket team takes the ground in the first Test, not to see three names there," he said.Kumble expressed optimism about the new era under Gill's leadership."But it's the start of a young team and it's a new cycle of WTC, which I'm sure this current team would look to win and then get into that final and hopefully hold the trophy one day, so that's something that I'm sure Shubman will try and create that kind of a legacy," he added.

Quiz: Who's that IPL player?The former captain discussed the challenges facing Kohli and Rohit, who will continue playing ODI cricket."It's not easy to just do what they need to in terms of preparing for an ODI, which is six months down the line. It's going to be a challenge, no matter who you are and how well you have had your career over the years," Kumble said.He emphasized the importance of celebrating these veteran players' contributions."But they are champion players, so they know how to sort of manoeuvre that, and it's important to celebrate champion players as long as they play. You go into thread bare of each performance as to how they should have played or how they could have played," he noted.

Kumble addressed their World Cup aspirations."What is important is to celebrate whatever is out there with the two players. Ideally, they would like to play until the 2027 World Cup, because that's something that did not happen.

We saw that 2023 final with Australia holding the trophy," he said.India is scheduled to play three ODIs and five T20Is in Australia in October this year.Kumble highlighted potential emerging talents, particularly mentioning Sai Sudharsan."The legends who are no longer playing in the other format will certainly want to make a mark, Virat and Rohit, and I'm sure a lot of people would want to watch that in Australia," he remarked.

He expressed confidence in new players making their mark."I feel someone like Yashasvi Jaiswal... Sai Sudharsan, I think, will make it to that team although he's not a part of it. But I think he will, based on the performances is going to have in England and he'll be someone to watch out for," Kumble stated.He also mentioned expectations for the T20 format."Of course, in the T20 format, Suryakumar is someone who I'm sure all of us would want to watch. I have a feeling that one of the (top) performers from this IPL will be a part of that too. I don't know who it is, but I'm sure one of the uncapped players, there have been wonderful performances and India will certainly not overlook those. The selectors will want to sort of capitalise on one of those players to be a part of Australia," he concluded.