Alastair Cook feels Shubman Gill is ready to take the baton from Virat Kohli

Former England captain Alastair Cook who was the last captain of a foreign team registering a red-ball series win in India back in 2012, feels that 24-year-old batter Shubman Gill has thrown his hat to fill the huge shoes of Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli. Cook made this claim while speaking to TNT Sports in their coverage of the India Vs England 5-match Test series.

Alastair Cook made these comments in light of Shubman Gill’s sensational first-ever Test ton from the number 3 position. Ever since he came down the order to facilitate Yashasvi Jaiswal as the opener along with captain Rohit Sharma since the 2-match Test series in West Indies, Gill had struggled to find runs.

In all of his appearances as a 1st down batter since July, the Fazilka-born batter could not even touch the 40-run mark, let aside the chances of a half-century. His highest score before today from the number 3 position was of 36 during the 1st innings of the 2nd Test against South Africa in Cape Town which ended within just 2 days.

Shubman Gill had scores of 6, 10, 29, 2, 26, 36, 10, 23, 0, and 34 in his last 10 Test innings in South Africa and India. His 104-run knock was his first Test ton since March 2023 and it took him 12 innings to reach triple figures. The 24-year-old also became the 3rd batter to score the most centuries at the age of 24, overtaking Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Ravi Shastri on the way.

Only Sachin Tendulkar (31) and Virat Kohli (21) had more centuries than Gill before turning 24. Shubman will be happy to get some runs under his belt as he was in dire need of doing so. But the one thing that Gill didn’t do right on day 3 at Vizag was the reverse sweep shot he tried to attempt against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir which also became the reason for his departure, but overall it was an inning to remember.

“He Has Serious Talent”, Alastair Cook Opines On Shubman Gill

Alastair Cook was all praise for Shubman Gill after he departed for 104 off 149, claiming that he is seriously talented and is ready to take over the baton from Virat Kohli, something he received from the great Sachin Tendulkar.

“Gill played beautifully. He has serious talent… and there was probably quite a lot of pressure on his shoulders. At the World Cup, all the billboards were of Kohli, but he’s the next one they want to step into his shoes,” Cook told TNT sports

“That’s a big thing to have the pressure of a country the size of India on your shoulders. As a young talent, that’s something that the likes of Tendulkar and Kohli have dealt with… and he now has to learn to deal with it,” Cook added. 

Alastair Cook further claimed that everyone should be expecting something similar from Shubman Gill throughout the course of this series and believes that he has a good chance of cementing his spot in the playing 11.

“What we’ve seen today is just how talented he is, the shots he has, and we’re definitely going to see him the rest of this series. He was out of form, hadn’t scored many runs, and there’s Rahul and Kohli to come back into the side, but he’s made sure now that the selectors can’t ignore him.” – Cook concluded.