Sanjay Manjrekar, former Indian batter and commentator, shared his views on Shubman Gill's batting performance in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Gill scored 23 runs off 66 deliveries, with two boundaries, but his slow batting approach didn't work in his favor in the Test series opener.
Well, reacting to the youngster’s another flop show, Manjrekar mentioned that Gill's decision to bat at a slower pace, with a strike rate of 34.84, worked against him and the Indian cricket team.
However, Team India managed to take a 190-run lead in the first innings, thanks to laudable performances by KL Rahul (86), Yashasvi Jaiswal (80), and Ravindra Jadeja (87).
Sanjay Manjrekar was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo: “Shubman Gill’s decision to bat slower than the need of the hour went against him. You’ve to look at the way he got out. You got the impression when he played the shot that he was trying to break the shackles somewhat, trying to hit over the infield. It was a bit of a grind for Shubman Gill.”
He further added, “We’ve been talking a lot about backfoot play on turning pitches against spinners and when you look at the backfoot play of Gill, you’ll see that there’s hardly any. He’s only trying to defend with a pretty rigid bat instead of trying to maneuver it.”
Manjrekar signed off by saying, “No better person than Rahul Dravid to be there with him to just encourage him to play more of the backfoot.”
(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)
