Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has backed Shubman Gill to deliver as a captain amid the five-match Test series against England. Gill scored a fine knock of 147 runs in his debut innings as India’s Test captain in the opening Test against England and Shastri wants BCCI to back him for the next three years, irrespective of the results.

Shastri noted that Gill has shown great maturity in the way he handles the media and he can go places if he continues the good show at the top level. Gill recently led Gujarat Titans to IPL 2025 playoffs and led from the front as he scored 650 runs in the high-pressure tournament.

“I’ll be disappointed if Gill doesn’t go places. Languid, lazy elegance, and he’s got a regal element of being regal out there when he’s batting. If he can learn with exposure and adapt to conditions I think that’s the one name I can see,” Ravi Shastri said on Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.

“He’s matured a lot. The way he handles the media, the way he talks at press conferences, at tosses, he’s matured a lot. Let him be there for three years. Don’t chop and change irrespective of what happens in the series. Stick with him for three years and I think he will deliver for you,” the former India head coach reckoned.

On the other hand, Gill admitted India failed to grab their chances in the opening Test as they dropped catches and suffered batting collapses, which led to their downfall.

“A brilliant Test, we had our chances. Dropped catches, lower order not contributing cost us. We were thinking of giving them 430, but our last wickets fell for 25. I thought we had our chances after the brilliant first wicket (fourth innings). Didn’t go to hand. We spoke about the first-innings collapse. Happens, but we have to rectify that going forward,” he said in the post-match interview.

The second Test match between India and England will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 2nd onwards.