India batter Shubman Gill overcame his bad patch with a gritty hundred on Day 3 of the second Test against England in Vizag on Sunday (February 4).
This was Gill's third century in Test cricket and his first at the No. 3 position. Before this, the right-hander had not scored a single fifty at the one-down spot and questions were raised over his place in the side.
However, Shubman rose to the occasion when India needed him the most in their second innings of the Vizag Test. He slammed 104 off 147 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes, propelling the hosts to 255 to help them set a daunting target of 399 for the visitors.
After the day’s play, Shubman Gill expressed his satisfaction on being able to score crucial runs for the team.
“It was very important and very satisfying for me to be able to score runs at number three. It felt pretty good, especially in the situation given when we lost Yashasvi and Rohit, as they were really good at giving us good starts at the top of the order.
“I think it was important for us to get a big lead and to be able to get as many runs as possible,” said Gill in the post-day presser.
While Gill took the cricketing world by storm with his exceptional performances in white-ball cricket last year, the success in the traditional format eluded him over the past six months.
The 24-year-old understands that the team has high expectations from him and perhaps that is why his celebrations post the three-figure mark were rather subdued.
“It felt good. I just thought the job was not done for the team. So, that's why it was a little mellowed celebration,” he said.
Reflecting on his struggles early on when James Anderson was making the ball talk, Gill said: “I was just taking one ball at a time and obviously, there was a lot happening around the crease. A couple of wickets fell early and then me and Shreyas had a good partnership.”
Gill was criticized for using hard hands in the opening Test and he chased a wide delivery in the first innings of the second Test to lose his wicket.
The Punjab lad put in the hard yards in the nets ahead of the Vizag Test and that seemed to have worked for him.
“I think it's very important to stay true to who you are and how you have gotten there. Sometimes if you get over-defensive or over-aggressive or try to play or try to be someone that you are not, then you are prolonging those innings.
"Then you're sometimes not able to get out of that shell that was my thing going into this Test that I'm going to play how I've played my cricket throughout,” Gill shared his thoughts on dealing with the lean patch.
Chasing the target, England raced to 67/1 in 14 overs at stumps with Zak Crawley (29*) and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed (9*) unbeaten in the middle, needing another 332 runs to pull off a record chase in Asian conditions.
According to Gill, England will find it tough to chase down the target on Day 4. He was also asked about the Ben Stokes-led side chasing a mammoth 378 against India in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston in 2022.
“As the game goes on, it will have variable bounce as we saw today. It is not turning as much as the other pitches but it is definitely doing something. It is not easy to score runs here.
“England are never out of the game. I think this is a different kind of wicket than what we played at Edgbaston. Having said that, the morning session will be very important for us as we have seen there is always a bit of moisture coming at the start of the day. That will be the key for us,” said Gill.
(With PTI Inputs)
