Sunil Gavaskar did not mince words when he chastised India batsman Shubman Gill for the way he was dismissed in the first Test against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday. Gill threw away his wicket after putting in a lot of effort to bat till stumps on the first day and surviving the challenging opening hour of Day 2. He also provided the first Test wicket for England’s rookie spinner Tom Hartley.
Hartley hit one over Gill’s pads with the sixth ball of his 35th over. The right-hander produced a wispy slap that was neither an attempt to go over the top nor a legitimate way to change the strike over. The outcome was inevitable. He was caught at midwicket. Gill gave his wicket to England while playing 66 balls and scoring 23 runs at the slowest strike rate of any batsman who has scored more than 20 runs in this Test.
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“What kind of shot did he plan to play? One might understand if he had planned to play it in the air, but it was simply a badly executed on-drive. “He did all the hard work and then played a shot like that,” Gavaskar stated in his commentary.
In his brief Test career, this has gradually become a major concern for Gill. Apart from a handful of half-centuries, notably a remarkable 91 in Brisbane, and two centuries against Bangladesh and Australia, Gill hasn’t had much success in this format. The most frustrating aspect has been his tendency to waste opportunities.
Gill has reached 25 runs 10 times in 37 innings but is yet to reach 50. That is alarming for a gifted hitter like him. And, as we saw on Friday, he regularly causes his own downfall. Even during India’s most recent series in South Africa, Gill missed a straight ball from Marco Jansen after scoring 26 in the second innings at Centurion. After scoring 36 in the next Test, he couldn’t resist throwing his hands up at a Nandre Burger delivery.
Gill seems to be battling the most with navigating his 20s and 30s right now. The most obvious indication is a Test average of 20 after 20 matches.
Returning to the India-England match, India resumed the day at 119/1 and finished the first session at 222/3. With a powerful 63-run stand for the fourth wicket, Shreyas Iyer (34*) and KL Rahul (55*) kept India in the lead in the series opener. The hosts now need only 24 runs to equal England’s first-innings total of 246.
England got off to a fantastic start on Day 2, taking the key wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (80) with the second ball of the day. Gill’s wicket came at the right time, but KL Rahul and Iyer have insured there will be no more setbacks. Rahul, in particular, was outstanding against the spinners, shifting the bat with ease.
England’s skipper, Ben Stokes, used several dubious techniques. He continued to bowl Hartley from one end despite the left-arm spinner giving up runs and not creating enough possibilities.
