By Vipul Kashyap

Darwin [Australia], August 12 (ANI): 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).

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. He has many challenges to face, none of which is more important than the survival of Test match cricket,' Hayden told ANI.

India is currently fifth in the WTC 2025-27 standings, having won four and lost four of their nine matches, with one draw. Hayden said the team's record highlighted the challenges facing India in the longest format despite their strength in white-ball cricket.

'And I feel India are in a much better position to continue their winning ways in the short formats, 50-over in particular, and T20 cricket, and they do have some work to do as most nations do in and around their Test and longer formats,' he said.

'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.

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. Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans to retain the IPL title.

The former Australian batter also reflected on how the current Indian team compares with the star-studded sides of previous eras, featuring players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

'I think that good cricketers are good cricketers. It doesn't matter whether you're comparing the times of the Bradman era, the times of Sachin Tendulkar, the Sourav Ganguly era. The full member nation teams are always full of very good cricketers,' Hayden said.

He added, 'What we're seeing now in Indian cricket is a fantastic young group of players who have much to prove across all formats of the game.'

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.

'And when you look at things like the World Test Championship, where the relevance of Test match cricket is prioritised because of the point system, you see that India in spite of being a great team, has a winning percentage of less than 50%. 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.

He also stressed the importance of India's role in sustaining the longer format, given the country's enormous influence on the global game through the IPL and white-ball cricket.

'And largely the success of the IPL has been borne, as I mentioned before, on the success of the shorter formats of the game,' Hayden said.

Hayden, who is now co-owner and head coach of Glasgow Cosmic in the inaugural European T20 Premier League, believes India's young group has the quality to remain a force in limited-overs cricket while Gill and his teammates face the task of strengthening their Test campaign.

India's next major WTC challenge will be to secure enough results over the remainder of the cycle to qualify for the final scheduled for June next year. (ANI)