'You can't win a Test without taking 20 wickets' - Shubman Gill hints at bowling-heavy strategy for England series

Published - 19 Jun 2025, 21:54 IST | Updated - 19 Jun 2025, 22:00 IST

India Test captain Shubman Gill stated that the team is willing to sacrifice batting depth in favour of adding more bowlers to the lineup, even if it means fielding just six specialist batters alongside four tailenders. India is set to take on England in a five-match Test series, with the first Test scheduled to begin on Friday at Headingley.

The newly appointed skipper highlighted a shift in strategy from India's recent overseas tour of Australia, where the team opted for a deeper batting lineup that included two all-rounders, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy, alongside the core batting unit.

"Yes, definitely. You can't win a Test match without taking 20 wickets no matter how many runs you score. So that has been one of our key discussion points, you know, how are we going to take 20 wickets and there might be a case where we would only be going with six batters and we would see a bowling all-rounder and three to four fast bowlers or proper bowlers," Gill said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Gill acknowledged that the team has drawn inspiration from the strategies of their seniors over the past decade on how to win matches in any condition. He also emphasised that maintaining a positive team environment will be crucial not only for the upcoming Test series but also for a successful World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

"The blueprint that we got from our seniors in the last 5-10 years, we can win anywhere and we will try to follow that same confidence and blueprint. And as I said, if your team has a very good environment, players feel very secure and confident and they know what their role is. So we want to create that environment in the team. And if we succeed in creating that environment, I think our Test series and the WTC cycle will be very successful," Gill added.

Winning in England bigger than winning IPL: Shubman Gill

Gill insisted that he wants to focus primarily on his role as a batter, rather than dwelling on his captaincy responsibilities. He added that this approach would help reduce pressure and allow him to concentrate on dominating the opposition throughout the series.

"After Virat bhai retired, me and GG bhai [Gambhir] had a discussion about it and we were both clear that he wanted me to be at number four and I was also clear that I also wanted to be at that number,” Gill said.

"Honestly, when I want to go out there and bat, I just want to play as a batsman and not really want to think that I'm the captain of the game because I think that sometimes puts too much pressure on me. Whenever I'm going out there, I want to play as a batsman and want to dominate the opposition and be the best batsman in the series. And that's what I'm trying to look at," he concluded.