Playing his first Test as skipper, Gill conjured up a sublime unbeaten 127 that was packed with glorious drives. India ended the day at a solid 359 for three, making the English attack look pedestrian.
The home bowlers largely bowled full on the ‘middle and off’ line and Gill negotiated the challenge with remarkable ease, transferring his weight on the shots for some sublime drives in the ‘V’ region.
“I am so happy to see his feet (movement) away from home, there’s a massive improvement in that away from home. Shubman’s feet were fantastic, didn’t make a mistake,” Ganguly told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“I think England shouldn’t have bowled on that wicket and they also didn’t bowl well enough. His (Gill’s) feet movement was fantastic, I hope it is a permanent thing with him because if he keeps batting like this in England and away conditions, he is going to score a lot of runs,” added Ganguly.
The series is being touted as the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket with the Gill-led side travelling without the legendary Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
It is supposed to be a tough transition phase but the start has been magnificent. Ganguly said he was never worried about the smooth transition since India has a lot of talent, thanks to a robust domestic structure.
“I was never worried about Indian cricket. There will be someone taking Indian cricket forward. I am not surprised with Yashasvi (Jaiswal) because I rate him as a fantastic batter, he is someone who should play all formats.”
Jaiswal has been on song since the beginning of his Test career.
The left-hander continued his sparkling form with a 101-run knock that set India on the path to a big first-innings total. He added 91 runs with fellow opener KL Rahul (42) for the first wicket.
“Shubman Gill and his batting away from home, I am telling you India has a lot of talent, there are 4-5 players waiting now who when given a chance, will score runs,” Ganguly said.
“Virat is a class player, finding his replacement will take time. But the rest, I wasn’t, I was not surprised by what I saw with Shubman. There is too much quality in Indian cricket because of the system, the quality of domestic cricket, leagues, because of the kind of time and money associations put in developing a player,” said Ganguly, who also helmed the BCCI as its chief.
