Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has marked Shubman Gill as the bright future of Indian cricket after the opening batsman scored his maiden Test fifty on the second day of the Sydney Test match.
After Prithvi Shaw struggled to get runs in the first Test, Gill was called in as his replacement in the second Test where he missed his half-century by five runs. But finally, he got the fluent fifty decorated with some eye-soothing shots in the third Test in India’s first innings.
Sunil Gavaskar hoped that Gill should have converted the 50 to the century. However, the 71-year-old believes that his innings was enough to prove that he is one of India’s brightest prospects.
“I wish Shubman Gill could have carried on from that half-century to century. What we saw in this innings confirms that he is one of India’s brightest prospects,” Gavaskar said on Sony Network after the end of Day 2 in Sydney.
Shubman Gill’s defence was as good as his Attacking batting: Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar was highly impressed with the way Shubman Gill executed a ray of shots even though he was playing only his second Test. He explained that the youngster’s defence is as good as his attacking batting.
“He got behind the line, he has got wonderful ray for shots, like I said, he played some sparkling and spanking shots but basically, the way he got behind the line of the ball was so, so impressive and that is the thing actually you want to look at opening batsman, how quickly and how confidently they get behind the line of the ball. Shubman Gill’s defence was as good as his Attacking batting and that is why I think he has got a big career ahead of him,” Sunil Gavaskar maintained.
Apart from individual achievement, Gill with his new opening partner Rohit Sharma stitched India’s first fifty-plus opening stand away from home after 16 innings.
Talking about the match, India is currently trailing by 242 runs and they have lost both the openers.