Team TTP
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed with Shubman Gill’s dismissal in the first innings of the opening Test against England in Hyderabad. Gill, who had batted well on the first day to remain unbeaten on 29, threw his wicket away with a reckless shot on the second day.
Gill was caught at mid-wicket while trying to loft debutant spinner Tom Hartley over the top. He had faced 66 balls and scored 23 runs, the slowest among all the Indian batsmen who crossed the 20-run mark in the match.
Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match, expressed his disappointment with Gill’s shot selection and said that he had wasted a good opportunity to score big.
“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,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar also pointed out that Gill has a tendency to throw away his starts and needs to work on his temperament. He said that Gill has the talent and the technique to succeed at the Test level, but he has to be more consistent and patient.
“Gill has a lot of potential and he has shown glimpses of his class in Australia and South Africa. But he has to convert his starts into big scores and not get carried away. He has to learn from his mistakes and play according to the situation. He has to be more disciplined and focused,” Gavaskar said.
Gill’s dismissal triggered a mini-collapse for India, who lost three wickets for 16 runs in the morning session. However, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer steadied the ship with a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket. India ended the first session at 222/3, trailing England by 64 runs.
