India, Nov. 11 -- A little under an hour of the India's first nets at Eden Gardens had elapsed when Shubman Gill was comprehensively bowled, the ball darting in from the sidearm thrower to clean up his middle stump. Gill turned around, put the stump back in place and continued batting. The desire to iron out even the slightest crack in his defence was understandable. Batting for India is one thing, batting as the captain is quite another.

It is this drive that has seen Gill make five hundreds since he was appointed captain ahead of the England series, averaging a staggering 78.83 in the last five months. The last of those five hundreds came against West Indies at home but the sense of anticipation has only started to rise now that India ...