Leeds: India are set to face England in the first Test of the five-match series in Leeds from June 20. The Shubman Gill-led unit has been preparing for over two weeks now and even featured in an intra-squad game in Beckenham. Ahead of the series opener, TimesofIndia.com spoke to former England captain Graham Gooch who, in a free-wheeling chat, spoke at length about captaincy, challenge for Shubman Gill, why England have a point to prove and what one can expect from the pitches this summer.Excerpts…The England tour starts a new era in Indian cricket. Your thoughts on the side under Shubman Gill. He is just 25 and still work-in-progress as a Test batter. Will leading the inexperienced side be a real challenge for him?It’s a new era, isn’t it? My view is that if one door closes, another one opens. I’m sure they’ll give a good account of themselves. Talent in the Indian cricket team is undoubted. It’s just that there’s some big shoes to fill with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring. It will be a big loss if Bumrah doesn’t lead the attack in all the games. I mean, obviously, he’s a world-class bowler. The pressure will be on, but some of the younger players will have to step up. And the captain, it’s a great honour to captain your country, and I’m sure he’ll (Gill) handle it in a good way.Having led England and then the kind of success you had with the bat during the period, what would be the one piece of advice you will give to Gill? Not every player is able to handle the pressure of captaincy.I don’t quite agree with the pressure. Some people are not up to the pressure. I don’t agree with that sentiment. I believe that being made captain of your country is the greatest honour a performer can receive. Because you’re not just captain of the other 10 players, you’re captain of your sport. So your responsibility as a role model and as an ambassador to set the tone for your country’s cricket system, from professional cricketers down to cricketers who play zonal cricket in your country, and the youngsters, the boys and girls who aspire to play for India or for representative teams, your responsibility is to set the tone and be an example for all the cricketers in your country.
Poll
Do you believe Shubman Gill will successfully lead the inexperienced Indian team against England?
So it’s more than just a captain in a team. I think that honour should inspire you as a player. It certainly has inspired me. I don’t always subscribe to the view that it’s more pressure. You’ve got to do it your own way and you’ve got to be yourself, not copy anyone. I think the most important thing for a captain is you’ve got to perform. Your main job in the team is to perform, with the bat in his case. So he has to do that. Captaincy is secondary to performing. And if you perform well yourself, that makes the captaincy easier.A lot is being said about the Indian team but you reckon England, too, will have a point to prove? They didn’t have a good series against India last time the two sides met in the longest format.I think England have a point to prove because whereas I’m in favour of the type of cricket they’re trying to play, exciting, expressive, on the front foot type cricket, to set the tone of the game, to take the game to the opposition. I’m in favour of that, but the record suggests that they’ve had some spectacular series where they’ve won and they’ve lost some as well.I think the big factor for England is, whereas you want to go on the attacker’s map, they’ve done a great job. When you need to play smart in test cricket, you have to play smart. Does that make sense? You can’t go all out attack every time. You have to play the situation. If such a situation requires you to dig in a bit, then you have to dig in. But England, over the last few years, have gone on the attack possibly too much. But the general principle of what they’re trying to do, I think it’s good for test cricket. Because as we all know, test cricket is under pressure from franchise cricket, hugely.Do you think this aggressive style of cricket also opens up plenty of opportunities for the inexperienced Indian unit? England could leave some doors open because of the cricket they play.I think Ben Stokes‘ stated aim is that he doesn’t want to draw any test matches. He’s not interested in drawing the test if he can’t win it. Which leaves a bit of a question. Sometimes it’s impossible to win the test. The hardest thing in a five-day test is to create a winning opportunity. It doesn’t mean you always take that winning opportunity. But you play for two, three, four days even to create a winning opportunity maybe on the last day. And England play for that.And they’ve stated to all the world, or Ben Stokes has, that that’s the way he wants to play. So sometimes you can find yourself in a difficult situation in a test where maybe you have to save the game or whatever. You have to play every situation individually. So that gives the opposition, not an advantage, but they know how England want to play. So they know they’re going to go all out and they’re not interested in a draw.How much say will the absence of two stalwarts of Indian cricket – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – will have on the series? Do you reckon England have a slight edge because they don’t have to worry about two world class cricketers?The home advantage gives England a slight edge, yeah. Because we’re used to those conditions. Although a different bowling attack now with Anderson and Broad retiring. So England are still trying to work out what their best bowling attack is. We’re playing your guys and Australia back-to-back, the two best sides in the world. So we’re still trying to work out what their best bowling attack is. So there’s a little bit of a question mark there. But given English conditions where the ball moves around off the seam, now India have got some pretty good seamers as well, especially if Bumrah plays. So they will be competitive without a doubt. But I think home advantage will give England a slight edge, but not too much of an edge.
Different venues present different challenges in England. How different are they from each other and what should a visiting team keep in mind?I think what you’ve got to consider is we’ve had a very dry summer here so far. There’s been hardly any rain for the last three months. And that means that all the pitches will be quite dry. And I don’t think they will, I mean, all English venues want the match to go four days. So unlike some other parts of the world. Where you can make the ball do whatever you want. Over here, the grounds, they want the match to go four days. Do you understand what I’m saying? So they will try and produce pretty flat pitches. They might seem around a little bit and they might turn a little bit towards the end. But they’ll be pretty, generally, they’ll be pretty good pitches, generally.So it could mean hard work for the bowlers…Well, we’ve had an unusually dry first half of the summer. You know, there’s no rain, hardly March and April. And a little bit of rain lately. So they should be dry. And good pitches. So the bowlers will have to work hard.Before we sign off, I don’t want to stir the plate of prawns again but any food suggestions for the visitors?(Laughs) I am sure if they want to try the tiger prawns over here, they will be fine.
