Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has backed India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill to handle the challenges facing the team in the longer format, saying the skipper is “a wonderful young man and a good leader” despite India’s indifferent start to the ongoing World Test Championship cycle (2025-27).
The decisive details
India is currently fifth in the WTC 2025-27 standings, having won four and lost four of their nine matches, with one draw. Hayden has had a close view of Gill’s leadership qualities, having served as batting coach of Gujarat Titans during the 2026 Indian Premier League season, when Gill captained the franchise to the final. You know, they’ve played nine games in this World Test Championship (WTC) calendar, and they’ve lost four and won four, and they’ve had one draw,” he said.
Because of the point system, you see that India in spite of being a great team, has a winning percentage of less than 50%, “And when you look at things like the World Test Championship, where the relevance of Test match cricket is prioritised. Speaking to ANI ahead of the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh in Darwin, Hayden acknowledged that India has work to do in Test cricket but expressed confidence that Gill can lead the side through the challenges ahead. “I guess in many ways India as a cricketing nation has also had a brilliant captain in Shubman Gill. “So I’m sure Shubman Gill will be up to that challenge. He’s a wonderful young man and a good leader, and he’s got a good team around him, albeit a team that’s going to need to perform some younger players and some more experienced players. But they’ve got a job to do ahead of the World Test Championship final, which is in June next year,” he added. Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans to retain the IPL title. Hayden pointed to India’s WTC record as evidence of the difficulty of maintaining dominance in Test cricket, particularly in an era where the relevance of the format is tied to the points-based championship.
He has many challenges to face, none of which is more important than the survival of Test match cricket,” Hayden told ANI . Hayden said the team’s record highlighted the challenges facing India in the longest format despite their strength in white-ball cricket.