Aakash Chopra sheds light on Shubman Gill’s form, says batter’s overseas form a concern

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has opined that Shubman Gill’s form is a concern for the team, especially when he is playing overseas. Gill hasn’t been at his best while playing in foreign conditions and he hasn’t gone past the 40-run mark since scoring a match-winning 91 at the Gabba, Brisbane on the 2020-21 tour of Australia.

Gill was dismissed after scoring only one run in the first innings of the third Test match at the Gabba, Brisbane on Monday. The right-hander poked at an outside off-stump delivery from Mitchell Starc but he was caught handsomely by Mitchell Marsh at gully.

“We will have to talk about Shubman Gill. It’s been 16 innings where you haven’t crossed 40 outside Asia. You have been dismissed for single digits or early double digits many times. If your scores are like this and you bat at No. 3 for Team India in Test cricket, it’s a problem, and it will be discussed as well,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel. 

The renowned commentator also shed light on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal. The left-hander was caught at square leg on the second ball of the innings after getting a boundary off an outside edge on the first ball.

“He was looking good in the last match. The problem is not with Gill alone. It’s a symptomatic problem of the entire playing style. Yashasvi Jaiswal drove the first ball hard. He might be unlucky that his shot found a fielder on the second ball, but the first ball could have also gone to gully’s hand,” he observed.

Chopra shared his disappointment with Shubman Gill’s shot selection. 

“Shubman Gill came and played a booming drive. When it comes off, it looks good, but there are great chances of it going behind the wickets. You are so used to throwing your hands that you don’t wish to stop,” he elaborated.

The renowned commentator reckons Gill’s habit of playing away from the body led to his downfall in Adelaide and Brisbane.

“The modes of dismissals, whether it was the incoming ball in the pink-ball game that hit his stumps, there also you played away from the body, and here also you played away from the body. This is a white-ball symptom and it is troubling everyone, including Shubman Gill,” he added.

“If we are saying that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are on their way out, their best is behind and not ahead of them, it’s going to be a problem if the next generation, which includes Yashasvi and Shubman Gill, doesn’t score runs,” Chopra reasoned.

At lunch on day four, India were 167-6, still needing another 79 runs to avoid the follow-on.