India’s Captain Shubman Gill through the press convention forward of the first Test Cricket Match between India and West Indies at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Wednesday, October 01, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
In current instances, Indian pitches have largely been spin-friendly. And on multiple event, even Indian batters, historically good gamers of spin bowling, have discovered the going powerful.
On Wednesday (October 1, forward of the primary Test versus the West Indies on the Narendra Modi Stadium, skipper Shubman Gill, who can be main the facet for the primary time at residence, expressed a desire for extra sporting wickets.
“I can’t speak about the conversations before I came, but we would be looking to play on wickets that offer something to both batters and the bowlers,” Gill mentioned. “Having said that, for any team that comes to India, the challenge is [countering] spin and reverse swing.
“If teams can play spin well and if they can challenge the reverse swing, they are going to get good success. So keeping these challenges in mind, you’d be looking to play on wickets that offer something to the batsmen and the bowlers,” the 26-year-old added.
The turf at Ahmedabad has appeared greener than typical, which suggests the Indian suppose tank could have a range dilemma. Gill has 4 first-rate spinners at his disposal – Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – and a fiery tempo assault comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.
“We have such quality in our team… someone like Kuldeep, such a wicket-taker for us in all formats, didn’t get a chance to play in England, which was very unfortunate. But [if you are] playing four spinners, and spinners of such quality, you are always tempted to look at the batting depth. You have to just weigh in your options… what can give you a bit more.”
Chief among the many choices can be about Bumrah’s sport time. The premier pacer performed simply three of 5 Tests in England because the workforce administration needed to handle his workload retaining in thoughts his tender again.
“We’re going to take a call on a match-to-match basis depending on how long a Test match goes on and how many overs our fast bowlers bowl,” Gill mentioned. “Nothing is pre-decided. We’re going to take the call once the Test match is over and how our fast bowlers feel and how their bodies feel.”
India’s final residence collection resulted in a humiliating 0-3 reverse to New Zealand lower than 12 months in the past. But the 2-2 draw away in England has seemingly stabilised the ship.
“We are looking to play some hard, grinding cricket,” Gill said. “Over the past few years, if you see the Test matches, they haven’t gone to five days. So what we are looking to do is play some good, hard cricket.”
“All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep. What you can expect from us is good, hard, grinding cricket and we won’t be looking for any easy options.
“We have the skills to dominate in any kind of situation, and the kind of talent we have got in the team, we can turn around from any situation.”
Published – October 01, 2025 06:03 pm IST