Shubman Gill is likely to play in the first Test against Australia at the top of the order if the indications from the two practice games are to be considered. The youngster returned with scores of 0, 29, 43 and 65 in the four innings that he played.
His improvement in each innings has given him the confidence to take on the Aussies in his naturally aggressive manner. He does find it intimidating to play against Australia in their backyard but he's up for the task.
Gill told kkr.in, "It's quite intimidating to play Australia in Australia, but I am really looking forward to it. As a batsman, there is no bigger opportunity than to play against Australia at their home as your confidence gets a major boost if you manage to score runs here."
He has played just one First-Class match under lights and scored a combined total of 108 runs in the two innings. However, Gill has practiced with the pink ball ahead of India's first Day/Night Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.
Gill said, "We practiced quite a bit with the pink ball in the lead up to the Test match against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens last year (in November). But I haven’t played any competitive first-class match under lights (except the second practice game against Australia A)."
He also has decided to take the aggressive option if he gets sledged by the home side and has even challenge them to get aggressive with the bowling. Shubman Gill believes that the Indian team has the right moves to negotiate the chin music.
The 21-year-old said, "There was a time when (Indian) players had a reputation of not being too aggressive, and people would take that for granted when sledging. Things have changed now."
"Every character is different, some people like to keep quiet and not react while for others, engaging in a verbal-battle eggs them on to do better. For me, I’m neither the kind to always keep quiet, nor the type to keep going at the opposition. But if the plan is to make us dance to their chin music, be rest assured we’ve got plenty of great moves in store," Gill concluded.
(With inputs from kkr.in)
