Shubman Gill credits working on ‘defensive game’ for Test success

NewsSpeaking ahead of the Duleep Trophy opener, he also said that he hasn’t “reached his expectations” as a Test player yet

Shubman Gill will lead India A in the Duleep Trophy  •  SLC

Shubman Gill has said working on his “defensive game” helped him turn his Test fortunes around against England earlier this year.

Before heading into the home series against England, Gill’s average in Tests was 30.59. But batting at No. 3 across the five games, he hit 452 runs in nine innings, at an average of 56.50. That included two centuries and half-centuries each, as he overturned a run of low scores in the format. Returning to first-class cricket for the first time since then, Gill will be leading India A at the Duleep Trophy opener on Thursday.

“I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners,” Gill said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where his side will face India B in the Duleep Trophy. “Playing on turning tracks, if you are not able to have that confidence in your defence [then it disturbs your game]. If you’re playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more. [It is] then you play scoring shots.

“And with more T20 [cricket], and playing on, I wouldn’t say flat tracks, but [on] batting-friendly tracks – [and] more in the white-ball [games] – I feel it takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series.”

After scoring 104 in the second innings of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, he revealed he had asked the team management to push him down to No. 3 instead of playing as an opener, a position where he had batted 29 times.

Despite the returns against England, Gill acknowledged that he is not quite there yet as a Test player, and that he intended to make up for it. India play ten Tests over the next four months, starting with two against Bangladesh from September 19.

“Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet,” he said. “But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations.”

Gill: As captain, ‘you should understand your players a lot more’

Gill said that he never felt any “extra pressure” being part of the India leadership group, as the added responsibility required him to know more about his team-mates.

Over the last few months, Gill has had plenty of leadership opportunities. That run started when he captained Gujarat Titans in the IPL after Hardik Pandya went back to Mumbai Indians. Gill then led India in five T20Is against Zimbabwe, after Rohit Sharma had retired from the format and several other senior players were rested.

India reversed a 0-1 scoreline to beat the hosts 4-1, after which Gill had said that captaincy “brings out the best in me”. He was even named vice-captain for the T20Is and ODIs against Sri Lanka that followed.

“My role as a batsman doesn’t really change,” Gill said. “Even if I am the captain or the vice-captain, the aim is to get runs and make my team win, [and] contribute in any way possible.

“If you are the captain or the vice-captain, then you should be able to understand your players a lot more rather than when you are just a player. Sometimes, it happens that you have played with a lot of [these] players since childhood. You have played a lot of age-group cricket [together]. So, obviously, you are already connected, and so it is more fun to play with them.

“And if you are enjoying your role in the captaincy, it is very important to lead with performance. So if you are getting all these things, then you enjoy everything.”

Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo