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Shubman Gill’s stellar performance in India’s 2-2 series draw in England silenced critics and proved his captaincy worth.
Shubman Gill showed a marked improvement in captaincy. (AP Photo)
Shubman Gill’s marathon batting performance in India’s admirable 2-2 series draw on English soil under his captaincy proved his naysayers wrong and turned him into India’s ‘huge positive’ from their challenging tour of England, feels former batting coach Sanjay Bangar.
In a magnificent achievement, Gill stood tall against the Ben Stokes-led Bazball juggernaut and produced scores of 147, 269, 161 and 103 in his astonishing series tally of 754 runs, only the second highest by an Indian after maestro Sunil Gavaskar’s 774 during the 1971 tour of the West Indies.
The prodigious talent vindicated the sustained backing provided by the team management and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, whose decision to appoint him the new Test captain had been treated with disdain by fans and experts focused on his mid-30s average. Responding in the best manner possible, Gill produced a mountain of runs and led India to remarkable wins at Edgbaston and The Oval.
For Bangar, hard work put on solidifying his defensive technique aside, the century in the opening Test at Headingley calmed down the nerves of the young skipper and bolstered Gill’s belief for the rest of the series.
“I think this was also the first instance when he was getting a full series in England and that helps as a batter. If you have a great start at Headingley itself, then it sort of quite down all the nerves down. Because India started so well, the number of batsmen who got runs in the very first Test match is extremely critical,” Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo.
“Because you know scoring runs in England is very very valuable and if it comes right at the start of the series with 2 or 3 batsmen getting big scores means that the series is getting beautifully build up and that’s where Shubman getting those big knocks in the first four innings of the series itself meant that entire questions marks about his captaincy affecting his batsmanship just vapourised out of thin air and he also became far far confident as a leader.”
“Because if you look at his leadership in the first test match and right up to day five of the last Test match, there was a huge improvement. So clearly, Shubman Gill (as a captain) was a huge positive for the Indian team.”
With runs, Gill’s decision-making as captain also evolved and improved. It was reflected by his sensible decision not to take the second new ball during the decisive hour of play on Day 5 at The Oval, where Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna got the old ball to hoop around and gave India a sensational six-run victory.
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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