Shubman Gill is a special case.
Shubman Gill is a special case. He gets special preference, and rightly so. He gets his preferred position, more chances to succeed than others, and a spot in every format despite not being imposing enough in two of them.
That’s because of his obvious talent, which is always a talking point when he bats. But talent can only take you so far. The team demands performance at the end of the day, and when you are Gill, there are high demands.
With power comes responsibility. Similarly, with talent comes expectations. And it won’t be harsh to say Gill hasn’t justified those expectations in his Test career.
He opened the innings unsuccessfully for the start of his career, averaging 32.37 in 29 innings with four fifties and two centuries. Gill demanded a shuffle in position, asking to bat at No.3. He is special, so the team obliged; they just wanted him to succeed.
At No.3, the story remained the same for the initial phase before the England series happened. He averaged 30.58 before that series after playing as many as 20 Tests. Finally, runs came for him in the England series, where he scored 452 runs at an average of 56.50, with two fifties and as many centuries.
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On paper, he was the second-leading run-scorer, only after Yashasvi Jaiswal. He might have shut down some outside noise, but was it really a typical Shubman series? Even those big scores came only when scoring was the only option left.
Apni ballebaazi se jeete har dil, kamaal khele Shubman Gill 💯🫶#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/VBpIakUekG
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 8, 2024
It was not that once he got going, he never looked back. He performed, he failed, and the cycle continued. Where was that free-flowing, ever-classy, and mesmerising Shubman Gill missing?
The truth is that Shubman Gill has yet to arrive at this level. Even when he scored big, there were restless phases when he looked at sea against pace and spin. Every time the bowler tried something different, he struggled to maintain fluency.
When James Andreson and Mark Wood bowled in the corridor by moving the ball both ways, Gill instantly became tentative and chased the ball. He’d use hard hands, even while defending, leading to his dismissals.
Similarly, whenever someone like Tom Hartley went wide of his crease to drift the ball in and take it away, Gill would use the bottom hand excessively while also playing without getting to the pitch of the delivery. Then, he would also play the wrong line at times.
He made a few tweaks during the series, which helped him to an extent. He worked on trusting his defence more and covering his off stump better vs Anderson midway through the rubber. But that would open a few other issues.
Even in the first round of the Duleep Trophy, familiarity unfolded when Gill shouldered arms on a length delivery to see his stumps rattled in the first innings. Later, he went for an expansive drive with hard hands in the second innings. He has found ways to score runs in patches, but that authority is missing; he is always under pressure to impress.
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He is still trying to strike an ideal balance across formats. It’s never easy to adjust between red-ball and white-ball cricket, technique-wise. That someone like Gill has struggled to nail it shows how complicated it is.
He is at the centre of the scheme as the Test team goes through a transition. The pressure is bound to take over when you need to fill the shoes of Cheteshwar Pujara’s stature. That he himself asked for that No.3 spot means Gill has no option but to perform now.
But he did it successfully in ODIs, replacing Shikhar Dhawan. Gill proved to be a perfect successor, showing a higher ceiling than an ageing Dhawan. There’s nothing to prove he can’t replicate the same in Tests.
Maybe he doesn’t need to play to impress anyone. He just needs to be Shubman Gill. Remember when Ishan Kishan challenged his spot by hitting a double ton against Bangladesh?
Gill didn’t do anything different. He just did what he had been doing – playing his natural game and being Shubman Gill. He came up with an even better double ton against New Zealand to quash all those doubts if there were any.
Shubman Gill delivers a masterclass! 🫡
His fighting fifty paved the way for #TeamIndia‘s triumphant 3️⃣-1️⃣ series victory. 🌟#INDvsENG #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/cyZumJyjsE
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 26, 2024
Technique-wise, he has shown enough progress in the recent past. Maybe it’s time to adapt mentally as well. He must build on that England series and take his game to the next level.
His position is not under threat. But Gill hasn’t performed according to the expectations, either. Even Gill knows it.
“Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet. But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations,” stated Gill earlier this month.
The upcoming home Test season will be ideal to reach his own aspirations. That will also serve as the best preparation for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later in the year. It’s time for Shubman Gill to unlock newer heights in Tests.
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