KL Rahul defended Shubman Gill, who was criticised after he was dismissed after seemingly struggling against an inexperienced bowling attack on the second day of the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
Gill struggled to get going initially and was constantly defending in front of his body while getting caught at the crease and unable to rotate the strike. In a bid to release the pressure, Gill skied one but Ben Stokes lost track of the ball while running back from mid-on.
His very tentative innings, especially against spin, as Gill, in his attempt to swat Hartley, ended in the hands of Ben Duckett at mid-wicket, giving the left-arm spinner his maiden Test wicket.
“When it comes to Shubman, I think he walked in yesterday in a situation where he had to defend his way to the end of the day’s play. Sometimes when you get into a mindset like that, you might find it hard to break free. And I could sense even today that he wanted one shot just to break the shackles and just to make him feel good,” KL Rahul said during an interview with Kevin Pietersen on JioCinema.
KL Rahul himself fell 14 runs short of a second Test century at home, meant it was the fifth time an Indian batter perished while trying to play an attacking shot in the innings. The Indian batter though backed Gill to bounce back.
“Like I said, he will get better. He is a top-class cricketer. He does play spin really, really well. We’ve seen that in white-ball cricket. It’s about time that he learnt from it,” Rahul said.
“I mean, you know, I’m sure he didn’t want to get himself into a situation where he had to go over the top or had to play a shot just to break free. But yeah, that happens to all batters. And I’m sure he’s already there thinking about what he’ll do in the next one,” Rahul added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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