Is Shubman Gill ready now to sit on the throne of games?
The showman’s bow from Shubman Gill on reaching a hundred is a sight that Indian cricket is beginning to get used to. When he bows, one can’t help but appreciate the aesthetic exhibition he has put on. Last February, though, all that had gone missing.
Having taken up the No 3 slot voluntarily since the tour of West Indies in 2023, Gill had gone 10 consecutive innings without even touching 40. Issues had cropped up: A semi-frozen front-foot had led to problems against nipbackers from pacers and curiously, some issues had popped up against spin too. A certain lack of trust in his defense.
For a batsman, who never went through three straight innings in age-group cricket without a big score, the failures were only putting additional pressure. Not even a century would get rid of FOMO. “I felt disconnected with the sport at one point. Even when I was doing well, I wasn’t feeling great. I would feel I had missed out on the last three-four games, that I had to do well in the next four games. And the joy in doing well in that one game was missing. I wasn’t enjoying the good thing,” Gill had told The Indian news back in May.
Skilful Gill rose to the occasion with a superb TON 👏👏
📽️ Relive his 5th Test Hundred 🔽#TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @IDFCFIRSTBank
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 21, 2024
Despite scoring a coming-of-age century in the second innings at Vizag against England this year, the showman’s bow was nowhere to be seen. But weeks later it was back in Dharamshala. And last week, it was on display again in Chennai against Bangladesh. After being caught down the leg-side in the first innings, Gill’s century in the second innings was by far his most fluent one in recent times. The bowling hardly challenged him. Such occasions can lead to boredom among batsmen. But No 3s, the engine of the batting units, usually don’t have that luxury.
There is every reason to believe more hundreds are lined up, but more importantly India’s No 3 is beginning to repay the faith. There were enough indications that Gill has put work behind the scenes, especially to improve his game against the spinners as well his troubles against the in-swingers. In his brief career, spinners have troubled both his edges, especially the outside one. Despite having a long reach to smother the turn, Gill’s tentativeness and lack of trust in his own defence has seen him make repeated mistakes.
Since that innings in Vizag, Gill has been a different batsman. He is assured in defence and when he wants to attack the spinners, he is prepared to use his feet and keep the ball on ground and hit in the air. “Yeah, actually it’s something that I started practicing when I was very young,” Gill said about using his feet against spinners.
A moment to savour for @ShubmanGill as he notches up his 5th Test CENTURY 👏👏
Live – https://t.co/fvVPdgXtmj… #INDvBAN @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/W4d1GmuukB
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 21, 2024</blockquote
“Because I was always a tall guy, it was easier for me to use my feet and play along the ground. Playing in the air and hitting sixes actually came a bit later when I got a little bit more power in my body. Initially when I used to practice, especially against spinners, it used to be a lot more me stepping down trying to rotate. Because it’s then hard for bowlers to settle on a wicket like this where the odd one is turning but not all balls,” Gill said after scoring his century here.
And more than his game against the spinners, it is his aggressive intent that had made the previous team management under head coach Rahul Dravid back Gill for the No 3 role. Especially on away tours, India’s think-tank had seen a pattern, where they were getting stuck on challenging decks and wanted stroke-making No 3 as they moved on from Cheteshwar Pujara.
With an unique technique, which didn’t necessarily fit into the textbook, there were reasons to back Gill’s methods. Having been brought up playing cricket on cement decks, Gill has a strong back-foot game as well as horizontal bat shots. And more importantly, with a unique bat swing, his slices on either side had the ability to neutralise deliveries that most others would be content seeing off. It is no surprise that India saw a run-machine in Gill. And Gill saw the opportunity to be one. After all, as a teenager, he was used to logging onto the Cricket Archive website to check what scores Virat Kohli used to make at his age. He was never short of ambition; but perhaps the desire to get there soon had boiled over a bit too much to affect his own appreciation of the game until he made course corrections.
As Gill has grown into his new role, he has another 8 more innings at home before the big test awaits in Australia. In his maiden tour Down Under in 2020/21, Gill had announced his arrival in a grand manner, with his 91 during the chase at Gabba setting up a famous win. Since then Gill has only grown from strength-to-strength, and is touted as the Prince, who is waiting for the coronation. This season will give a definite answer as to how soon Gill sits on the throne.
