Shubman Gill’s fine century under pressure in the second Test at Hyderabad has helped him get past the criticism he has received since his new role in the batting order coming in at number 3. While the likes of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are the likely contenders to return to the playing eleven, young Gill has made sure that his name cannot be ignored.
Cook believes that young Gill is the one to take over the role as the lead batter of the Indian side. The Men in Blue have been reliant on Virat Kohli to do the heavy lifting and has deliveries on many occasions.
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Praising his knock was none other than the former England skipper, Sir Alastair Cook who spoke to TNT Sports,” Gill played beautifully. He has serious talent… and there was probably quite a lot of pressure on his shoulders. At the World Cup [in India], all the billboards were of Kohli, but he’s the next one they want to step into his shoes.”
However, the former English skipper believes that Gill has to learn to deal with the pressure of expectations from a big nation like India, which the likes of Tendulkar and Kohli have had to deal with. He said,” That’s a big thing to have the pressure of a country the size of India on your shoulders. As a young talent, that’s something that the likes of Tendulkar and Kohli have dealt with… and he now has to learn to deal with it.”
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Gill was under pressure from the start of the series and failed to impress in the first Test at Visakhapatnam. But he managed to redeem himself with a fantastic century in the second innings of the second match at Hyderabad. Gill was not able to make a big score since his demotion to number three in the batting order.
Cook believes that even if KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are going to return in the ongoing series, we can still get to see Shubman Gill for the rest of the series as his century knock has made sure that the selectors cannot cast him aside.
Sir Alastair Cook concluded by saying, “What we’ve seen today is just how talented he is, the shots he has, and we’re definitely going to see him the rest of this series. He was out of form, hadn’t scored many runs, and there’s Rahul and Kohli to come back into the side, but he’s made sure now that the selectors can’t ignore him.”
India remains in front for the second Test after setting a target of 399 runs for England to win in the second Test. This would be a record run-chase in the fourth innings for the away side and will prove to be a difficult challenge taking account of the conditions as well.
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