Shubman Gill Focuses on Enhancing Test Performance, Enhances Defence Against Spinners

Bengaluru: Shubman Gill acknowledges that his Test career has yet to reach its full potential, but the talented right-hander is confident that enhancing his defensive skills against spinners will allow him to shine in the upcoming season, which includes 10 traditional format matches.

Gill made close to 500 runs in the home series against England this year in, perhaps, his best-sustained outing in Test cricket so far, and now he wants to build on that from the two-match series against Bangladesh, starting from September 19, where he will be challenged by a set of experienced visiting spinners.

“I worked on my defence a little bit more against spinners. You should be able to defend a lot more when you are playing on a turning track against spinners, then you can play the scoring shots,” Gill, who will lead Team A in the Duleep Trophy, said here on Wednesday.

“With more T20s being played…I won’t say on flat tracks but on batting-friendly tracks, I think it takes away a little bit of your defensive game. So, that was my focus in the England series,” he added.

Unlike in white-ball formats where Gill is a storm force, the 24-year-old is yet to blaze the Test arena, and he hoped for a turnaround sooner than later.

“In Test cricket, my performance has not matched my expectations so far. But we are going to play 10 Test matches this season, and when I look back after those 10 Tests, hopefully, my expectations will be matched,” he said.

Gill also emphasised on his growing maturity as a person and cricketer, which he directly linked to the captaincy stints of India and in the IPL with the Gujarat Titans.

“Every match or tournament that you play, you look to learn more about yourself irrespective of whether you are captain or not the captain. More so because of the captain you will get to know about other players too. It’s important for the captain to have a connect with the players.

“You should know their strength and weaknesses. Yeah, there are some changes in me especially when you are captain or vice-captain and having those conversations,” he elaborated.

But does being a part of the leadership group add an extra layer of pressure on him?

“Not really extra pressure (being part of the leadership group). My role as a batsman does not really change, even if I am the captain or vice-captain. It’s all about scoring runs for the team,” he said.

In that context, Gill termed the Duleep Trophy, beginning here and at Anantapur from Thursday, as a fine opportunity to tune himself to the demands of red ball cricket.

“This (Duleep Trophy) is a big tournament as every match is important for us. We are playing against some players whom we generally play with in the Indian team. So, we will get to see a good competition,” he noted.

Gill, who is set to open against Team B here, also said there have been some early talks between players and management about workload allocation considering the long duration of the season.

“There is definitely talk among the selectors and players about the workload. But I think everyone has played a lot of cricket to be able to understand what they need to do when they are playing the match, more so for the bowlers I would say.

“I am sure the bowlers had a conversation with the selectors about how they are going to manage their workload,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gill confirmed that India pacer Prasidh Krishna will not be available for the first round of the Duleep Trophy.

“Prasidh Krishna is not ready for this match,” he said.

The Karnataka pacer has been recuperating from surgery that he had in February this year and did not play in the recently concluded KSCA Maharaja Trophy T20 despite being roped in by eventual champions Mysuru Warriors.