Sanjay Manjrekar, former India cricketer, has said that Shubman Gill needs to score runs consistently in Test cricket to keep his place in the team. Manjrekar's comments came after Gill was dismissed for 2 on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between South Africa and India in Centurion on Tuesday.
Manjrekar added that there is no doubting Shubman Gill's class and said the Punjab batter is the "real deal", but urged the youngster to be more consistent and find ways to score big runs in Test cricket.
On a cloudy morning at SuperSport Park, Shubman Gill was undone by a delivery bowled down the leg-side by South Africa's debutant left-arm pacer Nandre Burger. Gill, who came in at No. 3, got a thin edge to the wicketkeeper but was unable to trouble the scorers.
Gill has struggled since scoring 128 against Australia in the Ahmedabad Test in March. Since then, he has not managed to go past the 30-run mark in 6 Test innings. He has moved to batting at no.3 since the tour of the West Indies earlier this year after having begun his career as an opener.
"He is the real deal. There is a class there. Somebody who gets a 90 in his very first Test match in foreign condition against a good attack, has to have class. Now, finally, it has come to be about delivery, right? It's about runs now. And his average at the moment is in the low 30s. He has been around for a while. The thing in India is that he has got batting competition coming through," Manjrekar told Star Sports.
"Shubman Gill has to keep getting runs. If you look at his T20 performances, you know he is getting some serious competition there. Test cricket, I think, they will back him more, but the numbers have to keep coming. At the moment, Gill looks entrenched and established in the 50-over format. In the other two formats, there is work to be done, but class-wise, he is a real deal," he added.
Gill, who made a brilliant Test debut in Melbourne in 2020-21, has managed 2 hundreds and 4 fifties in 34 innings in a career that has spanned over 3 years. Gill has not averaged more than 30 in Tests in recent times and it's starting to become a cause for concern as India needs solidity at No. 3, a spot that Cheteshwar Pujara held for long.
