'Shubman Gill is on Right Track, Working Really Hard': Rahul Dravid Backs Under-fire Youngster

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has shown support towards under-fire Shubman Gill ahead of the five-match Test series against England. Shubman has not been at his best in red-ball cricket in recent times. Shubman, who was India’s leading run-getter in ODIs last year, failed to replicate the same form in red-ball cricket.

The 24-year-old decided to change his batting position from opener to number 3 during the West Indies and his form dipped drastically after that. He has not been able to register a single half-century while batting at the number 3 spot as his place in the Test team has come under the scanners now.

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Meanwhile, head coach Dravid has backed Gill, who started his Test career on a high, and said that sometimes a player needs a little bit of time to succeed.

“Gill is a fine player. Starting out as a journey as a cricketer sometimes we forget that it takes a little bit of time at times. Some guys have success instantly, actually he is one of those guys who has done really well in some of his early days, especially in Australia,” Dravid told reporters on Tuesday.

The head coach also pointed out that in the past couple of years, the Indian team has played Test cricket in tough batting conditions be it at home, in England or in West Indies.

“To be fair to him a lot of young guys coming through are playing on some challenging wickets, whether it’s been in India or England or West Indies. It has been a pretty challenging wickets for the last two or three years,” he said.

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Dravid further said that Gill is on the right track and working hard to regain his form and consistency in red-ball cricket.

“He is doing all the right things. He is working really hard. He is putting in the time, putting in the effort. In the last season he has got a couple of nice hundreds for us one in Bangladesh and one in Ahmedabad against Australia. I think he is on the right track,” added Dravid.