Thinking game: Shubman Gill's evolving template on captaincy

Going forward, Gill will lead India in Tests and ODIs and that will test his leadership skills

- Ashish Magotra

At the start of the year, Shubham Gill, for all his talent, wasn’t always making the India playing XI. His potential was never in doubt but there were clearly other considerations. Now, in the space of five months, he has been named as Test and ODI captain.

And that call brings with a whirlwind of attention that can throw off the best if their base isn’t sorted already. The core principle of captaincy is simple: get the team to win. But getting to that point is anything but simple. It calls upon captains to turn into psychologists, strategists, disciplinarians and so much more.

Yet, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and no one does things in quite the same way. Even if they did, there are so many variables at play, that the end result could be and usually is very different.

For Gill, becoming the ODI captain is an opportunity to learn more; to absorb even more in terms of tactics. But for that to happen, it’s important to see what differences does he see between the red-ball and white-ball formats... where does he stand?