In RoKo’s presence, Gill will grow as a leader: Axar Patel

The towering presence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Indian ODI team can only help newly appointed captain Shubman Gill grow as a leader, said left-arm spinner Axar Patel here on Friday.

Following India’s second training session ahead of the first ODI on Sunday, Axar said Rohit and Kohli, who have not played for India since Champions Trophy in March, look sharp as ever.

Gill has succeeded Rohit as ODI captain despite the latter taking India to the Champions Trophy title.

“For Gill, it’s perfect, Rohit Bhai and Virat Bhai are there, and along with that, they have been captains, so they can give their input also, so it is very good growth of Gill’s captaincy,” said Axar in a joint interaction with Australian opener Travis Head.

“What has been good about Gill’s captaincy thus far is that he has not been pressurised.”

It has been a while since Rohit and Kohli played competitive cricket but Axar said they are looking as sharp as ever.

“Like Travis said, they both are world class players. We can see after the first match (how their form is). They are professionals, so they know what to do. They have been practising in Bangalore’s Centre of Excellence, so I think they are ready to go. “They are looking very good both in nets and fitness wise,” said the bowling all-rounder, who first visited Australia as an India player a decade ago.

We don’t talk about bounce of pitches here anymore, we talk about strategy.

Most of the Indian cricketers have played plenty of cricket in Australia including Axar, leaving them in a comfortable space of mind.

Axar said the talk in the dressing room is focused more on planning against the opposition rather than the bouncy nature of tracks considering their familiarity with the conditions.

“I feel that since 2015 (his first visit Down Under), there have been a lot of changes. When we used to come, the talk was about pitches, conditions, bounce and we used to play less as well.

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“We started playing regularly after the 2015 World Cup, and, the series started getting longer, and after that the batters started doing well,” he said.

“When we come now it doesn’t feel like Australian conditions and we have to be more ready. We are now thinking about where we can make runs, so we talk about strategy and timing, we are not talking about the pitch, we are talking about how we can strategise,” said Axar.

Axar has got big shoes to fill in the series, having been picked ahead of Ravindra Jadeja in the squad.

“I am very confident about this series. In the Asia Cup, I did well both with bat and ball. After a long time (2022 T20 World Cup), I would be playing in Australia. I am ready for the challenge,” he said.