Gill will try to prove a point with aggressive cricket in Asia Cup, says Irfan Pathan

Shubman Gill’s return as T20 vice-captain ahead of Asia Cup would do a ‘world of good’ to the Indian team in the longer run, said former all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Tuesday, adding that the 25-year-old will look to prove a point with his aggressive batting.

Gill made a comeback to the shortest format for the continental tournament following a successful debut series as Test captain, and Pathan said it isn’t something that would put pressure on incumbent leader Suryakumar Yadav.

“This selection of being vice-captain of Shubman Gill without the consent of Surya Kumar Yadav would not have happened,” Pathan said in an interaction organised by Sony Sports.

“His (Suryakumar’s) responsibility is not only to perform, not only to actually look after the team, but at the same time grow leadership, grow the team and he has started (doing) that.

“People might think that puts pressure on him, but what he is doing, it’s actually doing world of good to Indian cricket in the long term and it will put Suryakumar Yadav (as) a proper leader who is respected, especially in the cricketing community,” he said.

Pathan said Gill will look to “prove a point”.

“What we have seen this season, the way he played, the amount of runs he scored in last few seasons in the IPL as well. Now the Indian team has gone to (scoring at) higher strike rate.

“They want to just be very aggressive. I don’t think so there will be an issue for Gill to start playing (an) aggressive role and do what team demands of him.

“More than anyone else in this group, Gill will go there and try to prove a point in terms of playing aggressive cricket. He has the ability and he has got a lot of range,” he added.

‘Rohit wants to continue playing ODIs’

Pathan revealed Rohit Sharma, who has retired from T20Is and Tests, has expressed his wish to continue playing ODIs for as long as possible but said getting game-time will be a challenge for the former captain and even Virat Kohli.

“This new (fitness) test is obviously not easy, so once you’re able to clear it, that means your fitness is top-notch. I had a long call with him as well as far as just to know about his future plans, he’s very keen. He wants to make sure that he continues playing,” Pathan said.

“As long as the player is fit, the age doesn’t matter. But the challenge will be for him to have a game-time. Playing for India, I don’t think there will be any issues with the motivation.

“Be it’s Rohit. Be it’s Virat or be it’s Mohammed Shami as well. How much game-time they will have and how much they can continue playing cricket in whatever form, because they have retired from Test cricket (and) T20 Internationals as well,” Pathan said.

Pathan said Varun Chakravarthy, who had a forgettable outing in T20I format during the 2021 World Cup in the UAE, will be India’s X-factor.

“You always think all-rounders bring the x-factor but I’ll be excited to actually see how Varun Chakravarthy goes because you must know that there will be a redemption story,” he said.

“Varun was picked for the World Cup in Dubai which happened in 2021. I don’t think so he did that well at that particular time. My eyes will be on Varun Chakravarthy because he has a lot of confidence and he can definitely come with the x-factor,” he said.

Pathan reiterated his opinion that workload management for key bowlers including Jasprit Bumrah cannot be done during important assignments.

“You must have heard that Pat Cummins will manage his workload to play the Ashes and would skip matches. But will he manage his workload during the Ashes?” he asked.

“This has been twisted a lot, but I say that by all means everyone’s workload should be managed because they play so much. But once you are in a series and if you try and manage workload during that, you will not get the results,” Pathan added.