Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif feels Shubman Gill’s game is more suited to white-ball cricket and flat wickets. Gill is under the cosh for his mundane performances in the red-ball version. The right-hander returned with scores of 23 and 0 in the opening Test match against England at Hyderabad.
The youngster played a poor shot in the first innings after getting settled at the crease and could not convert his start into a big score. Gill could only score 74 runs at an average of 18.50 in the two Test matches against South Africa.
Gill has scored 1063 runs in 21 Test matches at an average of 29.53 and thus he needs to turn the tables.
“Shubman Gill is a very talented batsman, no doubt about that, but his game is of white-ball cricket and flat wickets which we get in limited overs internationals. But in Test cricket, you won’t get flat wickets, the ball will bounce, the ball will turn, so Gill has to work on his footwork and I am sure that he will make the necessary adjustments and will score runs again,” Kaif said in an interview with Times of India.
Kaif added that most of the Indian batters got off to starts in the first innings but none of them could score a century.
“Most of the Indian batsmen got off to good starts in the first innings but for the temperament of Test cricket, you have to stay at the wicket and play according to the situation. I am sure head coach Rahul Dravid would have spoken to them about that,” the 43-year-old stated.
India will need to pull up their socks with both bat and ball and come up with a better performance in the second Test. Moreover, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja have been ruled out of the second Test.
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from 2nd February.
