Shubman Gill, the young Indian opener, has faced criticism from former captain Sunil Gavaskar for his dismissal in the first innings of the first Test against England in Chennai. Gill, who scored a fluent 29 off 28 balls, was caught at mid-on while trying to loft Dom Bess over the top. Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match, expressed his disappointment with Gill’s shot selection and said that he had thrown his wicket away.
“What kind of a shot was he looking to play? One can understand if he was looking to play it in the air but it was just a badly executed on-drive. He did all the hard work and then played a shot like that,” said Gavaskar in commentary.
“Gill was looking good. He had a couple of boundaries. He was timing the ball well. But then he played that shot. It was a nothing-shot. He just chipped it in the air. He didn’t even try to hit it hard. He just gave a simple catch to the fielder. That was very disappointing,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar added that Gill had to learn from his mistakes and show more responsibility as an opener. He said that Gill had the talent and the temperament to succeed at the highest level, but he had to be more careful with his shot selection.
“He has to understand that he is playing Test cricket, not T20 cricket. He has to respect the bowlers and the conditions. He has to build his innings. He has to play according to the situation. He has a bright future ahead of him, but he has to learn from this,” Gavaskar said.
