Ravichandran Ashwin has been earning praise from Indian fans not only because of his impressive performance in a historic triumph against Australians but also because of revealing the behind the scenes of that tour. In the series released on his YouTube Channel, Ashwin revealed another interesting story about Shubman Gill. He also opened up that he is a big fan of the youngster’s batting.
In the fourth episode of the series Let me tell a Kutti Story, Ravichandran Ashwin had a conversation with India batting coach Vikram Rathour. He recalled an incident involving Gill from the Melbourne Test which left him impressed. In his debut Test match in Melbourne, Shubman Gill missed a half-century in the first innings but he showed the class with his bat.
“I am a big fan of Shubman Gill’s batting. Even in the Melbourne Test, this is an incident I wanted to share. We were bowling and the wicket got flat. We were bowling to Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and they were showing resistance,” Ashwin recalled.
This is unreal man: Ravichandran Ashwin on Shubman Gill
India had pretty much the upper hand against Australia in the second innings in Melbourne. Ashwin recalled how Gill came up to him to tell him to bowl out Australia quickly so that he can score the winning runs in 5 overs.
“And Cameron Green was caught at square leg off a pull and Shubman came running to me and said, “Ash bhai, Jaldi khatam kar do yaar! 40-50 runs hoga toh mein paanch over mein khatam karoonga! (Please wrap up quickly. If it’s 40-50 runs to chase, I will do it in five overs!),” Ashwin further said.
“I was like, ‘wow, this is unreal man’. We have a debutant who is walking up to say ‘khatam karo, finish it’ and I will finish in five overs and that too in a Test match,” Ravichandran Ashwin said laughing.
Vikram Rathour had also praised Gill describing him as a special player. The India batting coach further recalled that the youngster had started preparing for the Australia tour even during the lockdown.
In three Test matches played, Shubman scored 259 runs at an average of 51.80 and his highest score was 91 runs.