Shubman Gill's commanding century in the current India vs. England first Test match in Leeds served as justification for the BCCI's choice to name him the next red-ball captain. Shubman Gill slammed 147 runs as India reached 471. Apart from Gill, centuries from vice-captain Rishabh Pant (134) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) also stood out.
Sitanshu Kotak, the batting coach for India, evaluated Gill's batting after Day 2 and noted that the Indian skipper had made adjustments. Gill received backlash when India lost the most recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In five innings, he only managed to score 93 runs at an average of 18.60.
“After Australia (tour), he has thought about certain things which he implemented. Because after the Australia tour and the England series (followed by) Champions Trophy and then we had IPL, I wouldn’t say that I had a lot of time to do things (with Gill). But obviously, he worked on certain things and as soon as I saw him in the nets, I did speak to him that ‘you made certain changes’ and he said yes. A lot of credit to him for analyzing what he needs to do, and I think he did it really well,” Kotak said after day two as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Pant's thrilling, action-packed performance also impressed Kotak, who acknowledged that he had nothing to do with the performance.
“Rishabh Pant is someone who makes his own plans. He decides (the way) and (then) he bats. This innings was a little different from what you would see him normally, but honestly, that is all his plans. The way he wanted to approach it and when he wanted to attack, he did (and just) because he plays aggressive (cricket), does not mean he cannot play defensive,” he said.
However, there is still much room for improvement in India's middle order and tailenders. For just 41 runs, the visitors lost their final seven wickets.
“It was a bit of a collapse, I would say, because batsmen were also there. From 430 for three to 471 all out, batsmen also got out in it, isn’t it? So, it wasn’t only the last five; it was a bit of a collapse. We were expecting better than that, but it can happen,” Kotak concluded.
Meanwhile, England ended day 2 on 209/3 thanks to Ollie Pope’s century and 62 by Ben Duckett. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of Indian bowlers, taking all three wickets.
