New Zealand commentator Simon Doull reckons it is time that Indian opener Shubman Gill should start converting his starts into substantial scores.
Gill has played 10 Test matches thus far in his young career but he is yet to score his maiden Test century. The right-hander scored a fine knock of 44 runs in the first innings of the second Test match.
Subsequently, Gill got off to another good start in the second innings while batting at number three as he scored 47 runs but once again could not convert his start into a big score. In fact, Gill had admitted that his failure to not convert his start into a big score is not because of his concentration as he has got big runs in the domestic circuit while playing for Punjab.
Simon Doull said while talking to Dinesh Karthik on Cricbuzz, “He’s got to now start converting starts. He has got enough changes, he has played enough first-class cricket and he’s got to start producing the numbers.”
“He needs to realize that a Test match century is hard, it won’t come along easily. The first one is probably the toughest one you will ever make. He needs to learn and figure out a way to accumulate runs. He’s got to work those ones. He can’t just be a boundary hitter. He puts the bad ball away but he needs to keep the good balls out. He’s got to learn to rotate the strike when times are tough. That is one of the key things for Shubman Gill.”
On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik knows Shubman Gill from close corners as he plays with him for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Karthik reckons it is all about putting mind over matter for Gill if he wants to convert his starts.
“He is doing all the hard things very easily – getting a start or playing fast bowling. When the ball is turning, he has the ability to use his feet. All the prerequisites of a good batter are there. But then, he is getting out to soft shots lot of times. From the little that I have heard, he is one of those few cricketers who averaged 100 during his U-19 days. So he has the ability to get big hundreds. It is a question of putting mind over matter and moving past those landmarks slowly.”
Shubman Gill will look to definitely get a big score under his belt, which will give him a lot of confidence. The youngster didn’t take the field on Day 3 as he suffered a cut on his right hand middle finger while fielding on the second day of the Test match.
