Matthew Hayden's Powerful Message To Shubman Gill With India's Test Future Under Spotlight

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has backed India’s Check and ODI captain Shubman Gill to deal with the challenges dealing with the workforce within the longer format, saying the skipper is “an exquisite younger man and a great chief” regardless of India’s detached begin to the continuing World Check Championship cycle (2025-27). Chatting with ANI forward of the primary Check between Australia and Bangladesh in Darwin, Hayden acknowledged that India has work to do in Check cricket however expressed confidence that Gill can lead the aspect by way of the challenges forward.

“I assume in some ways India as a cricketing nation has additionally had a superb captain in Shubman Gill. He has many challenges to face, none of which is extra necessary than the survival of Check match cricket,” Hayden informed ANI.

India is presently fifth within the WTC 2025-27 standings, having received 4 and misplaced 4 of their 9 matches, with one draw. Hayden mentioned the workforce’s file highlighted the challenges dealing with India within the longest format regardless of their power in white-ball cricket.

“And I really feel India are in a significantly better place to proceed their successful methods within the quick codecs, 50-over particularly, and T20 cricket, they usually do have some work to do as most nations do in and round their Check and longer codecs,” he mentioned.

“So I am positive Shubman Gill will probably be as much as that problem. He is an exquisite younger man and a great chief, and he is bought a great workforce round him, albeit a workforce that is going to want to carry out, some youthful gamers and a few extra skilled gamers. However they have a job to do forward of the World Check Championship closing, which is in June subsequent yr,” he added.

Hayden has had an in depth view of Gill’s management qualities, having served as batting coach of Gujarat Titans in the course of the 2026 Indian Premier League season, when Gill captained the franchise to the ultimate. Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans to retain the IPL title.

The previous Australian batter additionally mirrored on how the present Indian workforce compares with the star-studded sides of earlier eras, that includes gamers similar to Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

“I believe that good cricketers are good cricketers. It does not matter whether or not you are evaluating the occasions of the Bradman period, the occasions of Sachin Tendulkar, the Sourav Ganguly period. The complete member nation groups are all the time stuffed with superb cricketers,” Hayden mentioned.

He added, “What we’re seeing now in Indian cricket is a unbelievable younger group of gamers who’ve a lot to show throughout all codecs of the sport.”

Hayden pointed to India’s WTC file as proof of the problem of sustaining dominance in Check cricket, significantly in an period the place the relevance of the format is tied to the points-based championship.

“And once you take a look at issues just like the World Check Championship, the place the relevance of Check match cricket is prioritised due to the purpose system, you see that India regardless of being an ideal workforce, has a successful proportion of lower than 50%. You already know, they’ve performed 9 video games on this World Check Championship (WTC) calendar, they usually’ve misplaced 4 and received 4, they usually’ve had one draw,” he mentioned.

He additionally confused the significance of India’s function in sustaining the longer format, given the nation’s monumental affect on the worldwide sport by way of the IPL and white-ball cricket.

“And largely the success of the IPL has been borne, as I discussed earlier than, on the success of the shorter codecs of the sport,” Hayden mentioned.

Hayden, who’s now co-owner and head coach of Glasgow Cosmic within the inaugural European T20 Premier League, believes India’s younger group has the standard to stay a drive in limited-overs cricket whereas Gill and his teammates face the duty of strengthening their Check marketing campaign.

India’s subsequent main WTC problem will probably be to safe sufficient outcomes over the rest of the cycle to qualify for the ultimate scheduled for June subsequent yr.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)