India must give Gill a crack at Test captaincy for a long period of time: Ponting

New Delhi: India has taken the right decision by handing the reins of the Test team to Shubman Gill and now the youngster must given a long rope to prove his credentials, says Ricky Ponting, who is also confident that India can handle the ongoing transition phase better than other countries.

India will be without stalwarts Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, who all retired recently, and pacer Mohammed Shami when they begin their five-Test tour of England on June 20.

While Kohli and Rohit retired from Tests last month, Ashwin had hung up his boots during the Australia tour last year and Shami was ruled out on fitness grounds for the tour of the Old Blighty.

"I actually think it's the right move. I know there's a lot of other people out there, pundits out there saying they can't understand why it wasn't Bumrah and why they have gone to Shubman, but I think it's pretty simple,” Ponting told The ICC Review.

"Bumrah's injuries are holding him back a bit in the last couple of years and you don't want that with a captain. You can't have a captain coming in and missing games here and there, so I think it's the right decision." "Now that they've made it, it's one they've got to stick with and give him (Gill) a good crack at it for a long period of time," he said.

Ponting said it would be tough to replace players with experience but said India should be able to handle the transitional phase better than any other Test-playing side.

"It's always very hard to replace players like that, (given) that have been around for so long that have played that much Test cricket. But if any country can do it and do it quickly, India can, because of the amount of young talent that they have," Ponting said.

"I've seen it first hand for 10 years now around the IPL and we've seen the emergence of (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and these sort of guys that have come into international cricket with India and (have) done really well pretty much straight away.” "The skill side of it's one thing to replace and India will replace the skill side of it easily enough, but the experience is the big thing that's going to be missing for them.” He continued, “Now even with a young captain with Shubman Gill, they'll still have some experience around with KL Rahul and Bumrah and these sort of guys. But if you look at a rebuilding sort of phase, India can cope with it better than most other teams.” Ponting, who coached Punjab Kings to the Indian Premier League final this year, said left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh should be named in the playing XI for the first Test at Headingley.

"I would actually have him in their Test team at the start (of the England series). He's very skillful, he has played County cricket, he knows the conditions there and the Dukes Ball will help him in the UK as well,” he said.

"To have that point of difference, having a left-armer in your team, will be something that if India don't do it then it'll be a bit of a surprise to me.” "As we know in England the ball still swings (be it) 30, 40 or 50 overs old. To have someone that's got that swing bowling ability and a left-armer, (it) is something that the Indian team should definitely look out for on that tour," he added.