India batter Shubman Gill was dismissed by debutant Tom Hartley in the first innings of the opening Test match in Hyderabad. Gill looked tentative throughout his 66-ball innings for India and got dismissed while trying to play a lofted shot through the on-side.
Gill has not been able to live up to the mark since his transfer to number 3 in Test cricket. Shubman left his original opening position for Yashasvi Jaiswal, when the batter made his debut in the Test series against West Indies away from home. Gill scored his final century in Test cricket against Australia in Ahmedabad, where he hit 128 runs.
Since that innings, Shubman Gill has not scored a single-half century in Test cricket and his best has been 36 vs South Africa in the recently concluded Test match in Cape Town.
| IND v ENG, 1st Test Scorecard |
Shubman Worried About Test Career?
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen pointed Shubman Gill’s technical issue during Day 2 of the Test match in Hyderabad. Pietersen while commentating said that Shubman Gill has just kept defending and not bothered to rotate the strike. KP pointed out that Shubman Gill has a knack of playing a release shot when the pressure gets to him, which could lead to trouble for the batter.
Something similar happened in the morning session of Day 2, when Shubman Gill tried to thread the needle through the leg side against Hartley. Gill tried to chip the ball through mid-wicket and ended up giving a simple catch to Ben Duckett.
India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik reckoned that the pressure might have gone to the head of Shubman Gill. Karthik argued that Gill was worried about his Test career after a string of poor performances in the last 9 innings.
“You can see pressure has gone to Shubman Gill. He knows if he fails a couple of times, his career, for the moment, could be on the line. So, you could see that reluctance,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Can Shubman Gill break out of his poor form? Kevin Pietersen thinks so. The former England batter has said that Shubman can take a leaf out of KL Rahul’s book. KP has asked Shubman to have a look at how KL Rahul is able to tick the scoring board with singles at the very start of his innings. KP said that this not only allows the batter to settle in but also irritates the bowler because he has to keep changing his plans.
At the time of writing India were 224/4 with KL Rahul batting at 56* alongside Ravindra Jadeja.
