Shubman Gill lacked Kohli-like aura. Shastri kept saying...: Nasser flags 'Jadeja' blunder as 'Hardik' talk returns

Nasser Hussain agreed with veteran India cricketer Ravi Shastri's on-air remark as he dissected India's loss in Leeds. The former England captain not only called out Shubman Gill's captaincy, which he felt lacked the Virat Kohli-like aura, but also sparked the familiar 'Hardik Pandya' talks as India lost by five wickets to go 0-1 down in the five-match contest. Nasser Hussain dissected where India lost the first Test against England(SkyCricket screengrab)

Speaking on Sky Cricket after England easily chased down 371, their second-highest chase at home, four years after their highest of 378, which also came against India, Nasser gave his verdict on Gill's captaincy.

The Leeds Test marked his debut, as Gill took over the role after Rohit Sharma's retirement. However, Gill reckoned he did not have the same aura as his predecessors, including Kohli, whom he is often compared to.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly. You've got to be very careful in the first Test match, the people he's taken over from, Kohli, and then Rohit Sharma. 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, the commentary position, 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're 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," he said.

Nasser admitted he was left quite surprised that neither Gill, nor any of the senior players have a word with Ravindra Jadeja, who did not bowl into the rough on the Day 5 track at Headingley, which allowed the England batters to race away to the big target with ease. Despite the track having the perfect ingredient to aid the spinner, which could have turned the game in India's favour, he only had one wicket to show, conceding 104 runs.

The veteran England batter revealed that Shastri kept talking about Jadeja's blunder in the commentary after visuals showed that he was not pitching his deliveries anywhere near the rough area.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain, to go to such an experienced spinner, and go, you do know the rough is out there. 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," he added.

‘India need a Hardik Pandya’

As Nasser went deeper with his assessment of India's loss in the first Test, he sparked the familar talks around the team still missing a seam bowling all-rounder of Hardik's calibre.

The team management experimented with Nitish Reddy in Australia before handing over the duty to Shardul Thakur in Leeds, but both failed to give India that perfect balance yet.

Nasser's words stem from India's lower-order collapse in both innings in Leeds, which was among the factors that resulted in the five-wicket loss despite the side witnessing five centuries during the match.

"The slip cordon and the catching were poor, something that India have done well in the last two or three years 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. Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar Patel. In England, they are still looking, I think, for that seam bowling all-rounder, you know, someone like a Hardik Pandya, going back to Ravi's times, Kapil Dev or whatever, 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."

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