Nasser Hussain: Shubman Gill's Captaincy Lacks Kohli, Sharma's Aura; India Needs All-Rounder to Fix Batting Woes

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

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

Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill: The new leadership team for the Indian Test squad.

Hussain remarked that Gill's captaincy seemed to be in its nascent stages, missing the commanding presence of 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...I thought he didn't quite have that on-field aura as the names I mentioned there. 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...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 was also surprised that neither Gill nor other senior players intervened in Ravindra Jadeja's bowling strategy on Day 5. Jadeja, according to Hussain, failed to effectively utilize the rough patches on the pitch.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain...Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher are up there, going, show us where that ball is pitching, and it was pitching nowhere 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)."

Hussain further addressed India's persistent quest for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing comparisons to past players.

"The slip cordon and the catching were poor...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...In England, they are still looking, I think, for that seam bowling all-rounder, you know, someone like a Hardik Pandya...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 experiments with Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have yet to yield the desired balance in the lower order. This was evident in the batting collapses in both innings, despite the team managing to score five centuries during the match.