‘Rohit, Virat and Ashwin have given us blueprint to win Tests away from home’

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had “very contrasting styles” of leadership but the two iconic players along with spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have given the Indian team the “blueprint to win” Test series away from home, says new skipper Shubman Gill. Gill was on Saturday appointed India’s captain in Tests. The first assignment for the 25-year-old is a five-Test series England where he won’t have stalwarts like Kohli and Rohit in the line-up.

“(The) guys like Rohit bhai, Virat bhai and Ashwin bhai… they have given us a blueprint on how to tour away from home

and win matches and series,” Gill said in a video released by the BCCI on Sunday.

“Yes, it’s one thing to be able to deliver and execute, but because we have that blueprint, we know how to tour away from home and win matches and series,” he added.

Gill said while Kohli and Rohit had contrasting styles of leadership, they were also quite similar in style.

“When I was a kid, I was always inspired by the great and the legends of Indian cricket and (I’ve) been very fortunate to be able to play with so many of them, be it Virat bhai or Rohit bhai,” he said.

“Both were very contrasting in terms of their style, but it was very inspiring to see both of them working towards a common goal.

You want to be able to win as a captain and your styles can be different, but they both were very different, but also similar in their own sense.”

“Virat bhai was always very aggressive, always wanting to lead from the front with hunger and passion whereas Rohit Bhai was also aggressive. You might not see that in his reaction or expression, but he was also someone who was always very attacking on the field,” Gill said. The Indian Test skipper added, “Rohit bhai was someone was very calm and tactically always

very present, and he was very communicative to the players, what he wants from the players, and so these are the qualities that I learnt from.”

Often the burden captaincy affects the batting, but Gill said his approach would be to keep both segregated.