Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja emerged as star players for India’s innings, while youngster Shubman Gill did not have a good day on the crease. He was criticized for his selection of shots and how he almost threw his wicket to debutant England spinner Tom Hartley.

On the fifth ball of the 35th over of Hartley — which tossed one up on Gill’s pads — the Indian batter played a wafty slap, which was neither an attempt to go over the top nor a convincing way of turning the strike over. He was caught at mid-wicket after scoring 23 runs in 66 balls.

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What Sunil Gavaskar said:

Upset with the shot selection by Gill, legendary cricketer and former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar minced no words in coming down heavily on Gill.

“What kind of a shot was he looking to play? One can understand if he was looking to play it in the air but it was just a badly executed on-drive. He did all the hard work and then played a shot like that,” said Gavaskar in commentary.

Earlier in December too, Gavaskar has expressed his concern over Shubman’s shots selection. Unimpressed with Gill’s batting in the Test series against South Africa, Gavaskar advised Gill to take in the different needs of Test cricket as compared to white-ball formats.

“I think he is playing a bit too aggressively in Test cricket. There is a slight difference when you play Test cricket compared to T20I and ODI cricket. The difference is in the ball,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“The red ball moves a little more than the white ball in the air and off the pitch as well. It bounces a little more too. He should keep that in mind,” Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar hoped that Gill would find his range sooner than later.

“Shubman Gill started off his career so well and we praised his shots. We can only hope that he gets back into his form. Hope he trains harder and does well in the future,” said Gavaskar.

What Kevin Pietersen said:

On Gill’s approach, the former England batter Kevin Pietersen expressed visible concern and emphasized the importance of rotating the strike in Test cricket.

He suggested measures too, asking India’s head coach Rahul Dravid to teach Gill in the same way Dravid taught him. Pietersen insisted that the young batter must diversify his skills to avoid such dismissals from becoming a regular occurrence.

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“He has somebody in the dressing room who changed my game: Rahul Dravid. I don’t know if he will watch this broadcast, but go and spend time with Gill and do the same stuff he talked to me about. Get him to hit the ball on the off-side, practice picking the lengths better, and rotation of the strike. Do things that will help him become a better player,” Pietersen said during the Lunch show on JioCinema.

“He’s a quality player in Shubman Gill, and no, I’m not disappointed in how he got out. I’m disappointed that he has not got that ability yet (to rotate strike). But then, he’s a kid. Give him that ability; give him that structure. If he rotates the strike and learns that from Rahul Dravid, and if the latter takes him under his wings, the world is his,” said Pietersen further.

The issue for Gill:

Looking at Gill’s performance in Tests, the batter doesn’t have much to show for in this format, except for a special 91 at Brisbane and two centuries against Bangladesh and Australia. The most disappointing factor has been the way he has thrown away starts.

In his last 37 innings, Gill has crossed the 25 mark without reaching a half-century on 10 occasions. For a batter like Gill, a Test average of only 20 after 20 matches is the biggest worry and he needs to get through the 20s and 30s soon.

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Published: 26 Jan 2024, 07:53 PM IST