Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was highly impressed by Shubman Gill’s performances in the ongoing two-match Test series against New Zealand, saying the youngster has the required technique and temperament to bat at any position for Team India in Test cricket.
Gill scored 52 and 1 in the first Test in Kanpur and 44 in the first innings of the ongoing second and final Test against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
However, the batting maestro believes that Gill needs to convert those great starts into big knocks and also said there is no reason why he can’t do well in South Africa if he bats in the middle order.
Tendulkar told PTI, “When it comes to technique, different surfaces will test you differently. I think Shubman has an advantage as he played very crucial innings (91) in Brisbane where we won the Test match. He has had the experience of playing on hard and bouncy tracks and I felt that he looked pretty comfortable. So, I don’t think there is any technical issue as such.”
On being asked does staying “beside the line of the ball” becomes more advantageous on the overseas surfaces, the Master Blaster said: “When he was playing the new ball (in Australia), I think he was behind the line and when the ball got old, he was marginally beside the line as he got to know how much the ball was swinging, how the field is set.”
He further explained, “Accordingly, you decide whether you need to be behind the line to play on the on-side or stay beside the line and hit on the off-side.”
So far, Gill has failed to convert his starts, but Tendulkar is confident that the young batter will do that consistently sooner than later. He added, “Shubman has started well and shown a lot of promise. The way he builds his innings, he has been good so far. Just that he needs to go further and convert those 40s into big scores.”
However, Tendulkar suggested Gill not take too much stress about three-figure marks in Tests. He added, “Once you get into that squad, it is about how hungry you are for bigger scores which I am sure he is. He needs to just convert those starts and not lose concentration. Both in Kanpur and Mumbai, he got good deliveries. He is on a learning curve and will definitely take lessons.”
Praising Shreyas Iyer, the legendary batter said: “I thought Shreyas was fantastic and made most of the opportunities he got, at one stage the scoreboard wasn’t looking that good and he came up with a gem of an innings and resulted in India almost winning the Test. Both his knocks were important.”
On being asked whether Iyer was benefited from the experience of the white-ball game, he said: “I am sure anxiety levels were there but it helped that he had made his T20 debut quite some time ago and these kind of things ease up your pressure and it allows you to play your natural game. Early on, he must have felt nerves and once he connected, he must have felt more confident.”
Tendulkar was impressed with Mayank Agarwal’s hundred in the ongoing second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. He said, “The wicket was damp when we batted first and when we played our second innings and batted third, it became dry. I remember it was the time I was really suffering with my tennis elbow injury and had to take pain-killing injections to play that match and had a partnership with VVS (Laxman).”
He further explained, “There was moisture beneath the surface. Mayank took some time to get into the groove and once he was in the groove, he capitalized by putting pressure on spinners. The hallmark of Mayank’s innings was that he was able to punish good deliveries too. When a bowler knows a batter can punish your good deliveries, then there is an element of doubt in him.”
Tendulkar signed off by saying, “What if the batter steps out and hit you and all those things go in the bowler’s head and disturb his rhythm.” So what’s his assessment of the Test? Overall how the pitch has played, our spinners will be able to bowl much better compared to their slow bowlers. We are in a dominating position right now.”
(With PTI Inputs)
