Shubman Gill admitted that the fall of wickets at the other end affected his game in the Adelaide Test but expressed confidence that the Indian batting group would deliver a stronger first-innings effort in what is now effectively a three-match series. Gill didn’t play the first Test due to a finger injury but looked good in his brief innings of 31 and 28 during the pink ball Test at Adelaide which India lost by 10 wickets. “As a batting group, we are looking to post a big total first up. That’s been the key discussion and every batter has his own game plan,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference after the team scored 150 and 180 in the first innings at Perth and Adelaide respectively.
Gill believes that he wouldn’t curb his natural game although he did get edgy seeing wickets tumble at the other end.
“I still have the freedom as a batter. One of the challenges is whether you can play the game you want to play, irrespective of what’s happening at the other end and irrespective of scorecard.
“I faltered in the first innings because of what happened at the other end and I take that upon myself.” There was a four-over period in which Gill faced just one ball and that affected his concentration.
“And there was a period when I didn’t face much — may be one ball in four overs and then when I faced a delivery I missed a completely fuller ball. These are challenges you face. You might not face a ball for four overs or you might end up facing 18 balls on the trot,” Gill explained.
India have had at least six scores of 150 or less in recent times and Gill admitted that the piece of stat isn’t lost upon the batting group. He said it is now a three-match series for his side.
“Adelaide Test, we didn’t do well but the series is still 1-1. We will treat it as a three-match Test series and if we win this one, we will have advantage going into Melbourne and Sydney.” Gill was nostalgic as he walked into the Gabba for the first time since the 2021 Test where he was the top-scorer in the run-chase with a fine 91 that catapulted him into stardom.
“Walking into the stadium after 2021 with the team, definitely it felt very nostalgic.” Skipper Rohit Sharma didn’t attend the optional training session and when asked about his absence, Gill replied: “This was an optional session and he has already practised a lot.” Recently, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had criticised out-of-form players for not turning up in optional net sessions despite having enough breaks in between matches.
Gill felt that the Gabba strip was a good one to bat on and India would fare much better in a traditional day Test.
“In a pink ball game, it is a little bit harder to gauge the seam from the hand of a bowler, especially when you are playing at night. We are a bit more used to playing with the red ball during the day than the dynamics of a pink ball test, we don’t play as much.” Australian tracks are primarily good for batting, was his assessment.
“Conditions are a bit challenging but there is a period between 30-35th over till the second new ball is taken (81st over), it becomes easier for batting,” he said.
Gill also said that there is a certain sense of familiarity about the Australian attack having faced the same guys for a number of years now.
“You have played against them enough and their Test side in last 5-6 years hasn’t changed much apart from a couple of changes here and there due to niggles. Both teams know which areas of each other we are going to target. We knew what would be the challenges of coming here and so in these kind of series there is lot more about mental tactic than skills,” he feels.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins on eve of the third Test had spoken about using the short ball tactic which gave them success in Adelaide but Gill was not ready to back down in terms of words spoken.
“I think they got one tail-ender and another (lower middle order) batter out with short ball. So, I am actually not aware what success is he talking about,” Gill said.
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