Shubman Gill's captaincy will be a mix of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Buttler says

Dubai: Former England white-ball captain Jos Buttler feels Shubman Gill's captaincy will be a mix of his predecessors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. But he assured that Gill will be a very much his own man.

"He's a really impressive player and an impressive young man," Buttler said on the For the Love of Cricket podcast.

He's pretty calm and measured when he speaks, but it's interesting, I feel like on the field he's got a bit of fight about him; a bit of intensity, quite passionate. I think he'll be a mix of Kohli and Rohit," he added.

Buttler played under Gill's captaincy at the Gujarat Titans during the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The duo racked up more than 500 runs each and formed a resilient backbone of Gujarat's batting order during their run to the playoffs.

"Kohli [was] that sort of real aggressive [character], really transformed the Indian team, in your face, up for the contest. Rohit was a bit on the other side, a bit more laid back, a very cool, calm, collected customer, but with that sort of fight. I feel like, from my time knowing Shubman so far, he'll be a bit in the middle. He's obviously learned from those two guys... but he'll be very much his own man," he added.

Buttler said that with the responsibility of leading the team he needs to ensure he doesn't lose focus on his batting.

"He talked about compartmentalising batting and captaining; so when he's batting, he just wants to be a batter, and then he will try and work on his captaincy and try and separate the two roles. When you're doing such a big job as being captain of the Indian cricket team, he'll have to try and do that well and have some good people supporting him," he said.

Former England spinner Graeme Swann feels the series will be a perfect warm-up for the hosts ahead of Ashes.

"It's kind of perfect warm up for the Ashes, to be honest. India is a huge series and the last two or three times we've gone to India, we've been thoroughly outplayed. So in our own backyard, our home turn, we need to beat India. We need to play well. They'r not going to have Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They're two absolute experienced superstars of the bat. So without that, yes, they've got great players coming in instead, but we've got bowlers who exploit our conditions well, who can bowl really well, Swann told Sky Sports Cricket.

"I think England must look to win this series, and I think they should look to win it convincingly as well. I'll take 4-1, 3-2 at a push, but I really hope we do well and get the confidence moving into the Ashes," he added.

India will kick off their five-match Test series against England from June 20 at Headingley in Leeds.