IND vs ENG 1st Test: Sanjay Manjrekar believes Shubman Gill’s batting approach cost him his wicket

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that Shubman Gill’s defensive game cost him his wicket against England on Day 2 of the opening Test in Hyderabad on Friday, January 26. Manjrekar has urged the Indian youngster to play his natural game instead of going into a shell since switching to the No. 3 slot in Test cricket. The veteran further questioned Gill’s feet moments as well as he felt that Gill failed to play backfoot shots against the spinners. He said this after Gill threw away his wicket for just 23 runs off 66 balls.

Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo: “Shubman Gill’s decision to bat slower than the need of the hour went against him. You’ve to look at the way he got out. You got the impression when he played the shot that he was trying to break the shackles somewhat, trying to hit over the infield. It was a bit of a grind for Shubman Gill. We’ve been talking a lot about backfoot play on turning pitches against spinners and when you look at the backfoot play of Gill, you’ll see that there’s hardly any.”

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Unlike the limited-overs format, Shubman Gill has been poor in red-ball cricket since the 2023 World Test Championship final. He scored 154 runs in three innings, with the best score of 110 against Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year but since then, he has managed scores of 13, 18, 6, 10, 29, 2, 26, 36, 10, 14 and 23. Gill, though, averages 33.15 in home Tests with 431 runs in 15 innings, including one century and two fifties as well.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar added that Shubman Gill is unable to rotate the strike due to a lack of foot movements as well. He also urged him to work on his backfoot shots by spending a lot of time in the nets with head coach Rahul Dravid. 

“He’s only trying to defend with a pretty rigid bat instead of trying to maneuver it. This is something that I’m sure Shubman Gill will start working on. No better person than Rahul Dravid to be there with him to just encourage him to play more of the backfoot and when he’s on the front, maybe just look to maneuver the ball just a little bit,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.