Gill's Captaincy Lacks Kohli-Sharma "Aura," Says Hussain; India's All-Rounder Search Continues

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has offered his insights into India's recent Test match defeat in Leeds, echoing Ravi Shastri's views on Shubman Gill's captaincy and the team's need for a seam-bowling all-rounder. Hussain contrasted Gill's leadership approach with that of his predecessors, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, while also raising concerns about India's slip catching and lower-order batting fragility, factors that contributed to England's five-wicket victory.

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

Hussain noted that Gill's captaincy appeared tentative, missing the assertive presence of Kohli and Sharma.

"I thought I saw someone just finding his way, honestly," Hussain said. "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... there were a lot of captains; it was a bit captaincy by committee... I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive."

Hussain was surprised that neither Gill nor any other senior players intervened in Ravindra Jadeja's bowling strategy on Day 5. Jadeja, according to Hussain, failed to exploit the rough patches on the pitch.

"A word with Jadeja, maybe as a young captain... 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 also discussed India's persistent search for a seam-bowling all-rounder, drawing comparisons 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... 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 experiments with Nitish Reddy in Australia and Shardul Thakur in Leeds have so far failed to deliver the desired balance in the lower order. This was evident in the batting collapses across both innings, despite the team managing to score five centuries during the match.