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What a contrasting 12 months it has been for Shubman Gill. Last year around this time, he was on a roll…unstoppable. He was smashing centuries for fun in ODIs and T20Is against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and recorded his first Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. His great form earned him the nickname ‘Prince’, with many declaring him Virat Kohli’s heir. Clearly, those bold predictions haven’t aged well.
Gill is struggling, and it’s not just now. She has been for a while. And his innings of 34 against England in the second Test at Visakhapatnam suggest that something is wrong with his batting. Gill is batting well, hitting the ball at the right time, but he is wasting starts, like today on Day 1. He was batting well, it didn’t matter if he got a couple of thick boundaries, but he was moving along with Yashasvi. Jaiswal. But once again, after getting off to a promising start, he bested his nemesis James Anderson against Ben Foakes.
Gill has not been the same batsman since recovering from dengue during the World Cup. Swamp scores have dropped significantly and kills have increased exponentially. Although these are early days, the team management’s decision to push Gill to the No. 3 spot appears to be a work in progress, especially considering who he is replacing at that position, the man with a knack for playing long innings, Cheteshwar Pujara.
With the current Indian playing eleven looking young, former coach Ravi Shastri sent a timely reminder to the youngsters trying to cement a place in India’s starting lineup. While Shastri did not single out anyone, his reference to Pujara could be directed at Gill. Jaiswal has responded well with a century and Rajat Patidar is making his debut in the absence of the injured KL Rahul, so there is no prize for guessing who Shastri could be referring to.
“It’s a new team, a young team. These youngsters have to prove themselves. Don’t forget, Pujara is waiting. He is fighting in the Ranji Trophy and is always on the radar,” Shastri said while commenting.
Bid in flames for Saurashtra
Pujara, who last played a Test for India in the final of the World Test Championship, has been cashing in on runs for Saurashtra, scoring a double century against Jharkhand, followed by scores of 49, 43, 43, 66 and 91 in later innings .
While the management has made it clear that preferring youngsters is the way forward, Pujara’s experience, more so at home, can never be ruled out, and Shastri further reiterated this while explaining the batting lapses of Gill, whose scores recent Tests scored 2, 26, 36, 10, 23 and 0 in 3rd place since the start of the South Africa series.
“It’s a test match; you have to stay out there. Otherwise, you’re going to get into all kinds of trouble. You’re going with those hard hands, reaching for the ball. Especially with someone of Anderson’s class.” Shastri added.