Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Shubman Gill’s decision to bat slowly went against him in India’s first innings against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Gill scored 23 runs off 66 deliveries, hitting two boundaries before being dismissed by debutant spinner Tom Hartley early on Day 2. The hosts ended the second day with a healthy 175-run lead on the back of half-centuries from KL Rahul (86), Yashasvi Jaiswal (80) and Ravindra Jadeja (81*).
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo after Day 2, Manjrekar said Gill’s decision to bat slower than normal went against him. Gill scored at a strike-rate of 34.84, which was amongst the slowest for Team India in the first Test.
“Shubman Gill’s decision to bat slower than the need of the hour went against him. You’ve to look at the way he got out. You got the impression when he played the shot that he was trying to break the shackles somewhat, trying to hit over the infield. It was a bit of a grind for Shubman Gill,” said Manjrekar.
IND v ENG, 1st Test Scorecard
The former India batter said Gill needs to work on his backfoot play, insisting that the 24-year-old was trying to defend with a very rigid bat. Gill has been struggling for form recently and last scored a half-century in the ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in November 2023.
“We’ve been talking a lot about backfoot play on turning pitches against spinners and when you look at the backfoot play of Gill, you’ll see that there’s hardly any. He’s only trying to defend with a pretty rigid bat instead of trying to maneuver it. This is something that I’m sure Gill will start working on. No better person than Rahul Dravid to be there with him to just encourage him to play more of the backfoot,” Manjrekar added.
India will start Day 3 at 421 for 7 with Jadeja and Axar Patel (35*) in the middle. The hosts had bowled out England for 246 runs on Day 1 with Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin picking three wickets each.
This is the first Test of their five-match series. India has not lost a home Test series in the last 12 years, beating England twice in that space of time. Interestingly, the last team to beat India at home was Alastair Cook’s England side in 2012/13.
