Birmingham [UK], July 7 (ANI): Following a historic outing with the bat at Birmingham, Indian skipper Shubman Gill reflected on changes in his batting technique after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL), dealing with outside noise as a player and how playing full fifteen sessions of Test matches in England benefitted the team in all aspects.
Gill’s historic combo of double ton and century was a key to India’s win, as he posted massive scores of 269 and 161 across both innings. Gill took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award as India levelled the series 1-1.
Speaking about his changes in the batting, Gill said during the presser, “There were some things that I started working on. I think I started working at the time when IPL was ending. The perception of technique and people, I think, changes after every series, after every match. We, as a team or as a player, do not focus much on what people are saying about you.”
“It changes in every match. But the important thing is that whenever you are going to a match, what your team thinks about you, what your players think about you, if your teammates think about you, if they have confidence in you, then that is more important for me, rather than what people outside are thinking about me, or what they think about my technique,” he added.
With 430 runs across both innings, Gill has the second-highest aggregate of runs in a single Test, below England’s Graham Gooch, who had an output of 456 runs after scoring 333 and 123 against India at Lord’s back in 1990. He also became the second batter to register 150-plus scores in both innings of a Test after Allan Border (150* & 153) against Pakistan in Lahore in 1980. Gill’s outing is also the first instance of a 250-plus and 150-plus score in a Test by a batter.
He has become only second Indian after Gavaskar to hit a double ton and century in the same Test, scoring 124 and 220 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1971. Other batters having achieved this feat include Australia’s KD Walters, West Indies RG Lowe, Australia’s Greg Chappell, England’s Gooch, WI icon Lara, Sri Lanka’s Sangakkara and Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne.
He has also outdone ex-skipper and legendary batter Virat Kohli (243 and 50) to have the highest aggregate by an Indian captain in a Test match. Virat’s effort came against Sri Lanka at his home stadium, Arun Jaitley Stadium, back in December 2017.
Gill said that when someone looks at the scorecard and chooses to have a target in mind instead of chasing personal milestones and putting the team ahead, then he, as a batter, gets physical and mental strength to bat long for the team irrespective of conditions.
“Especially when you are the captain, I think you need to lead by example so that whenever there is another player in that situation, you can command to that player, this is what the team requires right now and you always have to put the team first rather than your personal desires or sometimes you want to try some things but I think if you put the team ahead of you, you would always walk in the right direction or walk on the right path and that’s what I wanted to do in this match. If a good ball gets me out, it gets me out, but as long as I am there, I want to play as long as possible,” he added.
Gill admitted that playing full five days, instead of Tests in India which mostly ended in three-four days, helped the team as a batting, bowling and fielding unit alike.
“Even in the first inning, I think we fielded for about 90 overs, which is about a day. So I think that is good. Like I said, there are different perspectives to look at things. I think even in the series, in the upcoming matches, if we are able to score runs consistently, post around 400 or 300 totals, we would always be in the game,” he concluded.
Gill is the second Asian batter with 350-plus aggregate in a Test outside the subcontinent after Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad (354: 17 and 337) at Bridgetown in 1958.
The youngster is also the third Asian batter to have a 300-plus run aggregate in a Test taking place in South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (SENA) countries after Rahul Dravid (305) and Sachin Tendulkar (301) did that in Adelaide and Sydney respectively in 2003-04.
He is also the only third Indian captain to have a 100-plus score in both innings of the Test, besides Gavaskar (against West Indies in Kolkata, 1978), Virat (against Sri Lanka in 2017). Gill is the second player to record three hundred in his first two Tests as captain after Virat Kohli.(ANI)
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