The star Indian wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul has stated that Shubman Gill is already focusing on the upcoming innings and expressed confidence in the young player’s ability. He voiced for Gill to bounce back after his cautious innings on day two of the first Test against England in Hyderabad on January 26, Friday.
On day one, Gill came in to bat and seemed to face challenges in finding a rhythm, while Yashasvi Jaiswal was confidently playing shots across the ground. On the second day, Gill’s difficulties persisted, and he was eventually dismissed for only 23 runs off 66 balls.
Since his impressive 128 against Australia last year, Gill has not managed to score a half-century. Kevin Pietersen highlighted a technical issue, noting that Gill wasn’t rotating the strike effectively.
On the other side, Rahul showed excellent form and contributed a superb 86 runs. His performance helped India gain control over the match and resulted in a lead of 175 runs after the day’s play.
During a conversation with Pietersen on JioCinema, the former England batter inquired Rahul about what Gill could improve in his game.
“When it comes to Shubman, I think he walked in yesterday in a situation where he had to defend his way to the end of the day’s play. Sometimes when you get into a mindset like that, you might find it hard to break free. And I could sense even today that he wanted one shot just to break the shackles and just to make him feel good,” said Rahul.
Rahul mentioned that Gill adopted a defensive approach on day one, attempting to see out the day, which resulted in struggles to break free on Friday. The Indian batter indicated that he sensed his teammate was trying to release the pressure with attacking shots.
“When it comes to Shubman, I think he walked in yesterday in a situation where he had to defend his way to the end of the day’s play. Sometimes when you get into a mindset like that, you might find it hard to break free. And I could sense even today that he wanted one shot just to break the shackles and just to make him feel good,” said Rahul.
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He further added, “Like I said, he will get better. He is a top-class cricketer. He does play spin really, really well. We’ve seen that in whiteball cricket. It’s about time that, he learnt from it.
“I mean, you know, I’m sure he didn’t want to get himself into a situation where he had to go over the top or had to had to play a shot just to break free. But yeah, that happens to all batters. And I’m sure he’s already there thinking about what he’ll do in the next one,” said Rahul.
