Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik has given his two cents on Shubman Gill’s lean form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia. Gill has scored 60 runs in three innings at an average of 20 in the ongoing series and he hasn’t been able to convert his starts.
The right-hander hasn’t scored a fifty in the last 16 innings while playing outside Asia. In fact, his last fifty came against Australia in the historic Gabba Test on the 2020-21 tour when he scored a match-winning knock of 91 runs.
Karthik said Gill is pushing at the ball, which is leading to his downfall in the ongoing Test series.
Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “I think Shubman Gill definitely has a slight technical error, which is pushing at the ball. When you play a lot of white ball cricket, you tend to do that. Travis Head does that as well, but what he has found is the method of doing that, and I think that players like Shubman Gill are caught in the trap of the way they bat in India and the way they bat outside. The moment you see the ball released from the bowler, your mind tells you that this is a full ball you need to go at it.”
“Batsmen who travel abroad to places like Australia, England and South Africa tune themselves in practice when they see a fuller ball like that, especially against a new ball – A) they play with slightly soft hands, or B) they try and focus on playing the ball as close to the body or leave. Shubman Gill is playing like he would play in India, where he sees the release, goes for the ball with hard hands.”
Meanwhile, India’s batting hasn’t been up to the mark in the recent past and Karthik said the batters are putting themselves under pressure as they have been misfiring.
“For a No.3 batsman who has been around for so long, Shubman Gill has played a very, very ordinary shot (Brisbane Test), there are no mincing words here. And let’s be honest here, that the Indian batting, as a group, have not fired here for some time now, and with every passing innings, they are putting pressure on themselves,” said Karthik.
The fourth Test match between India and Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26th December.
