This was Shubman Gill's first Test series win as skipper.
When a team goes on to play good cricket and wins a series, it often happens that questions are not raised. The result of the match or the series has a huge stake in the criticism that a team or a player can get. The Shubman Gill – led team clinched the two match Test series against the West Indies in Delhi, on the back of a comfortable victory of seven wickets.
Batting first, India scored a mammoth 518/5 (dec), on the back of brilliant centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Shubman Gill. The West Indies were then skittled out for 248 in 81.5 overs, after which India decided to enforce the follow-on. However, in the second innings, the Windies turned up really well and scored 390.
Skipper Shubman Gill explained the thought process behind enforcing the follow-on, and the fact that the pitch wasn’t assisting the bowlers at all had a lot to do with it. Though most of the decisions panned out in India’s favour, Ravichandran Ashwin highlighted a couple of tactical errors which Shubman Gill can work on as the leader of the side.
To make matters very clear, Gill is just seven Tests old as the skipper of the side. In those seven Tests, he has won four, lost two and drawn one. Overall, he has had a great start to his captaincy stint, about which head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke about after the match.
However, there was a lot of debate on whether India could have finished the match a lot earlier after enforcing the follow-on. The last wicket partnership for the Windies in the second innings was 79 runs, which is a humungous number for the last wicket.
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Having said that, Ashwin validated the way Gill led the side in that phase, stating that the pitch did not have a lot to offer for India to go overly aggressive. But, he also expressed that rotating the bowlers well is where Shubman Gill can work on along with some creativity in field placements, in terms of his tactical acumen.
To add more to this, Ashwin stated that India seldom bowled bouncers towards the West Indies batters before lunch on Day 4. But after lunch, the bowlers started bowling bouncers aggressively. This is an indication that the message has come from the dressing room. So the inexperience is showing on the field, but it is a good thing that he has got the dressing room to believe in him.
“Tactically, rotation of bowlers, field placements, preparation for the game – these can be worked upon. In this game, it felt like he needed the help. Spinners cannot be stopped with just three-four over spells. That is impatience”, stated Ashwin.
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