West Indies' Ian Bishop praised young Indian opener, Shubman Gill, as an elegant eye-catching batsman, but also explained that he had a glitch in his batting technique.
Debuting for India in the Boxing day Test match at the MCG during the recent tour of Australia, where India registered a stunning 8-wicket victory after suffering a batting debacle at Adelaide, Shubman Gill impressed everyone with his stroke-play and scored 45 & 35* and followed it up an elegant fifty at SCG.
However, Shubman Gill came into limelight once again as the 21-year-old played another stylish inning and scored 91 runs in the series decider at Gabba, stitching 114 run-partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara to take visitors score from 18/1 to 132/2, as the visitors were chasing a mammoth target of 328.
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Gill's knock in Brisbane might have been overshadowed by Rishabh Pant's match-winning exploits. But the win would not have been possible if the 21-year-old batsman hadn't given a fantastic start on what prevailed to be tough batting conditions for the youngster.
However, Ian Bishop called Gill's style of play as the hallmark of modern day batting.
"In Australia, on those slightly bouncier pitches, Gill’s ability to playback and forward appropriately, to take on the short ball with aplomb, as a subcontinental player is the hallmark of the new generation of batsmen,”Ian Bishop told sportstar.
Ian Bishop further applauded Shubman Gill’s batting and called him an elegant, eye-catching batsman.
This hasn’t always been that way, as we know His eye-catching, tall, elegant, languid stroke play was easy on the eye. His willingness to respect a certain slow or fast phase of the game showed a good cricketing mind and willingness to be flexible. It wasn’t a case of 'this is the one way I play and I’ll only play that way'. More than anything, he kept improving and not backing down," he said.
The former Windies pacer also explained a glitch in Gill's batting technique and said he plays often from the leg stump or leg side of the ball.
"He does have a glitch in technique which I was concerned about. He plays often from the leg stump, or leg side of the ball, which encourages seamers to challenge him around the fourth or fifth stump and bring the outside edge into play,” said Ian Bishop.
Bishop further talked about Gill’s innings at Brisbane and said if Gill found a way to make adjustments in his techniques, he would be able to score runs in almost any conditions.
"Much in a way like Virender Sehwag used to do and he wasn’t too bad a player. In his final innings at Brisbane, he came across his stumps more at times and didn’t let his hands and bat stray too far from his body where he lost control of his stroke outside his eye line.
So, he seems aware of it and is prepared to adapt. If he can achieve that, he will be able to continue to score under almost all conditions," he concluded.
Shubman Gill finished the series with 259 runs at an impressive average of 51.8. The young opener is all set to play his first Test match at home as he has been named in the 18-man squad for the first two Tests of a 4-match series against England, starting February 5 in Chennai.
(Sportstar Inputs)
