Shubman Gill's Captaincy Style Under Microscope: Hussain Highlights 'Reactive' Approach in Leeds Test Loss

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

The Leeds Test marked Gill's first outing as captain following Rohit Sharma's retirement. England successfully chased down 371 runs, marking their second-highest chase at home against India.

Hussain observed that Gill's captaincy appeared to be in its nascent stages, lacking the assertive presence of Kohli and Sharma.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly," Hussain stated. "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. 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 still [have] senior players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul [who] 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 also expressed surprise that neither Gill nor other senior players intervened to adjust 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 ongoing search for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing parallels 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... In England, they are still looking... 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."

The team's attempts to find balance with Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have yet to yield the desired results in the lower order. This was evident in the collapses witnessed across both innings, despite the team managing to score five centuries throughout the match.