While Shubman Gill has established himself in India’s white-ball teams with remarkable performances, he is yet to leave a big mark in the longest format of the game.
In 20 Tests so far, the right-hander has amassed 1040 runs at an average of 30.59 with two hundreds and four half-centuries. Shubman started his Test career as an opener but after Cheteshwar Pujara’s ouster from the side, he has been batting at No. 3 for India.
Gill registered scores of 2, 26, 36 and 10 in the recently held two-Test series in South Africa. Overall, he has scored 166 runs from eight Test innings at No. 3 with the best score of 47.
Amid the dismal run, India head coach Rahul Dravid has extended his support to Shubman Gill, citing that the pitches have been tough for batting in Test cricket lately and the latter will take some time to adapt.
Dravid’s comment came ahead of India’s five-Test series against England at home, starting on January 25 in Hyderabad.
"Gill is a fine player. Starting out the journey as a cricketer sometimes...we forget that it takes a little bit of time at times. Some guys have success instantly, actually he is one of those guys who has done really well in some of his early days, especially in Australia," Dravid told reporters on Tuesday (January 23).
"To be fair to him a lot of young guys coming through are playing on some challenging wickets, whether it's been in India or England or West Indies. It has been a pretty challenging wickets for the last two or three years," he added.
Dravid claimed Gill has been putting some hard yards at nets and hoped that the youngster would soon find his feet in red-ball cricket.
"He is doing all the right things. He is working really hard. He is putting in the time, putting in the effort (at nets).
"In the last season he has got a couple of nice hundreds for us, one in Bangladesh and one in Ahmedabad against Australia. I think he is on the right track," the coach remarked.
It remains to be seen whether Shubman Gill manages to repay the faith of the team management in the upcoming Test series against England.
(With PTI inputs)
