Sunil Gavaskar believes Shubman Gill should have been caught by Marco Johnson in the second innings of India’s first Test match against South Africa as he attempted to play across.
On Thursday, 28 December, on the third day in Centurion, Gill was bowled after scoring only 26 runs in 37 balls. After this, the visiting team was out for 131 runs and lost the match by a huge margin of innings and 32 runs.
When Gavaskar was asked in Star Sports Discussion what he thought about Gill’s departure, he said:
“The length was very good, it was a fuller length, but Shubman probably just made a mistake. If he had tried to play towards mid-on he would not have had trouble. He would have got an inside edge.
The former India opener said that if the talented batsman had used a straightener blade, he might not have been removed. He clarified:
“The bat was not straight at all, the edge of the bat was visible and the ball went through.
If even a little bit of the face of the bat was visible then he would have got the inside edge but it did not happen.
When Marco Jensen was bowling on the off stump When he was there he was feeling pain, so he thought of bowling on the pads, and when he did that he (Gill) was out.
In the second over of his innings, Gill hit two fours from the offside, which was accepted by Jensen.
But on the last ball of the same over, the lanky Proteas seamer took his revenge by uprooting the right-handed batsman’s stump.
Irfan Pathan on Shubman Gill
He prefers to play in the midwicket area most of the time, although he has very good control when playing on the back foot.
As Irfan Pathan said, when Shubman Gill plays with the backfoot through midwicket he has more control. he declared:
“He looked absolutely beautiful when he was batting. He looked in control. Sunny sir said it would have been better if he played straight.
He usually likes to play in the mid-wicket area but when he is very Controls and plays forward with the back foot.”
The former India all-rounder continued to say that the youngster’s death in the second innings was probably the result of a wrong shot taken by him. He clarified:
“When you play like that on the front foot, he got bowled here, but he can also be LBW. So the straighter he plays, the better.
Shubman Gill looked more in control in this inning compared to the first innings. “Unfortunately he made a mistake on a shot and lost his wicket.”
Gill’s firing set off a chain reaction. Although Virat Kohli (76) did not give up, wickets kept falling at the other end.
The visiting team lost badly, with the former Indian captain being the last player to be removed.
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