RAJKOT: The Gabba. India vs Australia, post-lunch session on day five. Shubman Gill takes guard against Mitchell Starc with Cheteshwar Pujara for company. The scorecard reads 85/1 after 39 overs. India still need 243 runs to breach the fortress that is Gabba. To be honest, going after the target was in neither batter’s mind. That is when Gill kicked off something. The menacing left-arm pacer ran in, delivered a short-pitched delivery — blink and it was sent to the midwicket boundary with an authoritative pull. It was a wake up call for everyone hoping that India survive the day’s play.
In Starc’s next over, Pujara showed a glimpse of his upper cut, but the movie began another over later. Gill, all but 21, pulled Starc into the stands. And then, unleashed his upper cut, before swivelling and pulling along the ground for another four — 15 runs (including a no ball) in three balls. Although Rishabh Pant’s madness was showcased in Sydney, this takedown of Starc from Gill put him in the front and centre of the anointed batting prodigies. He fell nine short of a century, but Rishabh pulled off a heist to secure a historic victory.
That 91 against Australia in Brisbane when the chips were down made Gill the promised prince of Indian batting.
February 17, 2024. Rajkot. India vs England, post Tea session, day three. Three years had passed since the epic Test knock and victory in Gabba. In this time, Gill had sealed his spot in the 50-over format, smashed an ODI double and had a stellar year as an ODI opener in 2023. And it is because of his success in white-ball, the prolonged lull in the format where he made his mark went under the radar.
In the lead-up to the India-England series, there were questions over Gill’s consistency in the longest format. Since the Brisbane Test, he had played 17 matches with 781 runs to show for at an average of 26.93; four 50-plus scores in 31 innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal had taken up his spot, but knowing the talent he had, the team management had given Gill a rope at No. 3 — a position that was filled by a long lineage of stalwarts.
However, a twin failure in Hyderabad meant Gill was one bad match away from being dropped. What was going for him was that Virat Kohli was unavailable, KL Rahul was injured and the team management did not want to go back to the senior pros again. In what could well have been his last innings before being dropped, Gill scored a century at Visakhapatnam.
However, another disappointing dismissal continued in the first innings of the third Test. A pattern was emerging. It seemed like his trouble against incoming deliveries continued as Gill went fishing for one that held its line and got out for a nine ball duck.
On day three, Gill was in the middle again. India had secured a 126-run lead and Jaiswal was still there. The job, for Gill and the left-hander, was to extend the lead. The 24-year-old, since his dismissal on day one, had been spending as much time as possible in the nets with batting coach Vikram Rathour and head coach Rahul Dravid to iron out the technical flaws. Even in the morning on Day 2, the three were in the nets adjacent to the stands of Niranjan Shah Stadium. And it showed when he took guard first against Mark Wood and then, James Anderson.
Both Wood and Anderson persisted with the good length and deliveries that were coming into the right-hander while holding the line at times. This time, Gill, however, was getting into good positions, defending the ball under his eye. Unless it was too full or too short, Gill was happy to defend or play it around, especially against the pacers — the numbers say as much.
Against Wood, Gill had just two boundaries on the off-side (one through point and one in covers). The rest of the time, he was happy to work around the pacer. The same was the case against Anderson — all of Gill’s 13 runs came from the off-side with two bad balls being hit for boundaries. When it came to spinners, the 24-year-old was at ease, taking on Joe Root, Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley as and when possible. And even as Jaiswal was running away with his third Test century, he played at his own pace, was not troubled like he was in Vizag and kept batting like he was doing in the nets.
Former England cricketer and commentator Nick Knight said that Gill’s better alignment helped him adjust better in the second innings. “Once he is done with his movements and they are quite pronounced — back and across and then forward — making sure that head is right in line with off-stump. The off-stump is behind my head. That makes me then the judge of length and line much easier.
From time to time I do see Shubman, he goes across and with that backlift sometimes goes out here (wide outside, behind) and sometimes, the head goes slightly more (over the line across) and I think he is constantly trying to challenge himself to get that right… What I saw in the second innings is a batter who was covering the off-stump a little better than he did (before),” he observed on JioCinema while talking about what Gill did differently to succeed.
Just when it seemed like Gill, too, would follow Jaiswal and score consecutive centuries, the unfortunate thing happened on the morning of day four — a miscommunication between him and Kuldeep Yadav meant he was ran out for 91. The milestone was missed, but it was the kind of innings that would have given him a lot of satisfaction. For he did not give any chances, held his ground, and played to a plan, which worked out well for him, and India.
If that 91 in Brisbane brought him into limelight at the global stage three years ago, the one in Rajkot would do a world of good for Gill’s confidence as a Test batter. For Gill is no more a batting prodigy breaking through; he is India’s new Test No. 3.