'Who is the actual captain?' - Shubman Gill captaincy fallacies hurt Murali Kartik

Former Indian cricketer Murali Kartik expressed disappointment with Shubman Gill’s captaincy during the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. India failed to defend a target of 371 in the final innings, eventually losing the match by five wickets.

Kartik remarked that Gill appeared to lack authority in his debut as India’s Test captain, with several players offering input throughout the match. He emphasized that while suggestions from senior players are valuable, the captain must ultimately take charge and lead decisively on the field.

"We can look for excuses, but the problem is that we [India] 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,” the cricketer-turned-commentator was quoted as saying by NDTV.

“Sometimes KL Rahul was suggesting things, Rishabh Pant was suggesting things, Shubman Gill was doing it too, [so] who is the actual-appointed captain? I could not understand these signals being made. There is one captain. I understand that if a senior player sees someone out of the place once or twice they make suggestions, but it keeps happening again and again, which is not a good sign," he added.

I saw two or three captains by committee for India: Nasser Hussain

Former England captain Nasser Hussain, who pointed out that Gill lacks the on-field presence of experienced leaders like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Despite five Indian batters scoring centuries, India failed to defend a 371-run target and handed England a five-wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

"I saw someone finding his way. He (Gill) didn't quite have that on-field aura of Rohit and (Virat Kohli). I thought he followed the ball a lot and was reactive rather than proactive. When Rohit and Kohli captained, you looked down, and you immediately knew who was in charge, but when I looked down in this game I saw two or three captains, captaincy by committee," Hussain said on Sky Sports.