Legendary Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer for throwing away their wickets against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Thursday. Gill scored a fine knock of 53 runs but found Mahmudullah at cow corner while trying to take the attack against Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Similarly, Shreyas Iyer also perished while trying to play a big shot against Miraz but he too holed out to Mahmudullah.
Both Gill and Iyer had got off to promising starts but threw away their wickets in an attempt to play big shots.
Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports, “He (Shreyas Iyer) lost his patience. He was batting on 19, threw his wicket away. Shubman Gill (was batting on) fifty (53), threw his wicket away. You need to know how to get to a hundred and it’s important for Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill.”
Gavaskar slammed Iyer for not being consistent on batting-friendly pitches.
“Shubman Gill is at least getting hundreds, Shreyas Iyer is not getting hundreds. He is getting his opportunities to bat at number 4 on pitches as good as these and attacks as toothless as this and he is throwing away the opportunity.”
The Little Master reckons Gill and Iyer should take a leaf out of Virat Kohli’s book and learn how to finish off matches for their team.
“Kohli never does that. Kohli will seldom ever throw his wicket away. He makes you earn his wicket. And that is exactly what you need. When he got to 70-80, realising that he has an opportunity to get to a hundred and why not? Hundreds don’t come everyday.”
Kohli scored a fine knock of 103 runs and became the fourth batter after Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, and Ricky Ponting to complete 26,000 international runs and the fastest one to do so.
India will next take on New Zealand at the Himachal Pradesh Association Stadium, Dharamshala on Sunday.