Legendary England batter Alastair Cook has come out in Shubman Gill’s defence following India’s loss in the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. England beat India by five wickets as they chased down the second-highest target in their Test history of 371.

Following India’s loss, several experts have been after India’s new skipper Shubman Gill for his on-field tactics during the match. Amid the criticism, Cook has come out in Gill’s support, saying that the team will take time to get used to his captaincy. He gave England’s Ben Stokes’ example and mentioned that it took England a while to get used to his captaincy style.

“When you take over a team, there will always be a phase when the team gets used to the new leader. This happened with (Ben) Stokes when he came in. It took a while (for England players) to get used to him when he came in and said, ‘We’re going to try and smash every ball,” Cook said on Stick to Cricket show.

Gill had a good game with the bat at Headingley as he scored a brilliant 147 in the first innings, becoming the fifth Indian skipper to score a century on captaincy debut. However, his knock ended in vain as batting collapses, poor fielding and ineffective bowling led to India’s soul-crushing loss in the series opener.

India recorded five centuries in the match, but still found themselves on the wrong side of the result. They became the first team to lose a Test after registering five centuries in the game.

Meanwhile, after a harrowing loss in the opening Test, captain Gill has a major task at hand to regroup his men and prepare them for the second Test, set to begin from July 2 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. India have never won a Test match at the venue, having lost seven out of eight matches played. Hence, the Shubman Gill-led side will be up against history as they aim to level the series in the upcoming encounter.

– Ends