‘Who is the actual appointed captain?’: Shubman Gill gets ruthless reality check after losing his first Test as skipper

Shubman Gill's captaincy has come under the scanner after his team failed to defend a 371-run target in the first Test against England. Shubman, who was leading the Indian Test team for the first time, looked a bit clueless when English openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley shared a mammoth 188-run stand for the opening wicket. The 25-year-old faced criticism for being somewhat defensive in his approach, as India appeared to lack clear tactics while England steadily closed in on victory. The senior players in the team - KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant were also seen assisting the bowlers and captain with their insights on Day 5. Shubman Gill's tenure as India's Test captain began with a defeat.(AFP)

However, former India spinner Murali Kartik took a dig at the on-field dynamics, criticising the other players for frequently offering suggestions and making field adjustments. He felt it led to unnecessary confusion over who was truly in charge as captain.

"We can look for excuses but the problem is that we scored 835 runs, one bowler picked up five wickets and despite that India lost the game by five wickets. I felt as if there were too many captains. I could not understand that. Sometimes KL Rahul was suggesting things, Rishabh Pant was suggesting things, Shubman Gill was doing it too, who is the actual appointed captain. I could not understand these signals being made. There is one captain," Kartik said on Cricbuzz.

The former spinner asserted it would have been understandable if it happened once or twice, but the inputs from others were quite frequent, which, according to him, is not a good sign.

"I understand that if a senior player sees someone out of the place once or twice they make suggestions but it kept happening again and again which is not a good sign," he said while talking on Cricbuzz.

‘Shubman Gill was feeling the pressure’

Captaining in a Test match for the first time, Gill found little support from his bowlers on the final day, as India couldn’t defend a target of 371. With plans falling apart and England’s batters taking the attack to the bowlers, Gill was forced to constantly shuffle his field in search of a breakthrough.

"It looked at a point as though Gill was feeling the pressure. He kept placing fielders wherever the ball went. It is not as easy to stamp your authority as captain. You did it with your batting but when your bowlers do not perform it becomes very tough and it was evident. 371 runs are a lot of runs. It never looked as though any wicket was going to fall in the first session," he reckoned.

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