LONDON: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said that replacing someone like Virat Kohli in the Indian test team will be difficult but added that he was not surprised by Gill’s classy knock vs England in the 1st Test, where the 25-year-old batted at No.4, a position which was held down by Kohli in previous years.
“Virat is a class player, finding his replacement will take time. But the rest, I wasn’t, I was not surprised by what I saw with Shubman. There is too much quality in Indian cricket because of the system, the quality of domestic cricket, leagues, because of the kind of time and money associations put in developing a player,” Ganguly said to PTI.
Ganguly also said that he expected the new India Test captain Gill to get a boatload of runs in he series provided his footwork remains as flawless as it was on Day 1 in Leeds.
“I am so happy to see his feet (movement) away from home, there’s a massive improvement in that away from home. Shubman’s feet were fantastic, didn’t make a mistake,” Ganguly said.
“I think England shouldn’t have bowled on that wicket and they also didn’t bowl well enough. His (Gill’s) feet movement was fantastic, I hope it is a permanent thing with him because if he keeps batting like this in England and away conditions, he is going to score a lot of runs. If he keeps on playing like this, his average will also increase up to 40-45, this innings will give him a lot of confidence since your confidence builds on the basis of your performance, the way he was tackling swing yesterday, the technique was really good,” he added.