Shubman Gill did not doubt that his father would not be happy with the way he was dismissed on Day 3 of the second Test between India and England in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Gill scored his 3rd Test hundred, showcasing incredible grit as he battled pressure and lack of support from the rest of the batters. However, in a moment of rush of blood, Shubman Gill threw it away, trying to reverse-sweep off-spinner Shoaib Bashir while batting on 104.
Shubman Gill scored nearly fifty percent of India’s second innings tally in the Visakhapatnam Test as he overcame a scratchy start to grow in confidence. | 2nd Test Day 3 Updates | Scorecard |
Shubman Gill’s place in the Test team was questioned as the 24-year-old went without a fifty in his last 12 innings. A section of the cricket fraternity doubted if Gill was suited for the No. 3 spot, a position long held by Cheteshwar Pujara as the Punjab star struggled to get going at the crucial spot.
However, with his father watching from the stands in Vizag, Shubman Gill told the world that he is here to stay as he mixed caution with aggression, wonderfully playing the situation and the conditions on Day 3. Gill became the first India batter to hit a hundred at No. 3 in a home Test since Cheteshwar Pujara in November 2017.
When asked by broadcaster Ravi Shastri if his father would let his frustration about the dismissal know when they meet in the hotel room later in the evening, Shubman Gill replied in the affirmative, without taking time to even think.
“I think so. I will get to know once I get back to the hotel, but I think so. He comes for most of my games, there’s no such pressure,” Gill told JioCinema.
Shubman Gill’s father has been a pillar of support for the youngster, but he is known to be a hard taskmaster. Even head coach Rahul Dravid had spoken about the extent to which Gill’s father expects excellence from his ward.
“So when Shubman was scoring a lot of fifties and sixties and batting well, but not really converting them into big hundreds, I think his father had said, ‘Shubman are you only going to show us drizzles or are you actually going to show us some rain and some thunderstorms,” Dravid had told BCCI last year.
Nonetheless, thanks to Shubman Gill’s hundred in the second innings, India were able to post 255 in the 3rd innings and set a target of 399 to the tourists. England raced to 67 for 1 in 14 overs, clearly indicating that they would try their nahd at chasing down the record target on Monday.