Indian opener Shubman Gill recently spoke about his ‘disappointing’ phase in Test cricket and how he overcame it. After scoring his second Test century on Day 3 of the final Test of the 2022-23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Gill revealed that he was getting out playing a game that was not natural to him.
He said that he was putting unnecessary pressure on himself after getting set and was getting over defensive and cautious. Gill also mentioned that he had to remind himself to play his natural game and not put too much pressure on himself. He added that he needed to keep his game ‘free-flowing’ and not let his own expectations burden him.
“If I get out trying to play a shot after getting set, I can accept that dismissal, because that’s a shot and my execution wasn’t proper. But if I get out playing a game which isn’t my style then it became unacceptable to me,” he explained.
Gill also mentioned that he worked on his mental set-up to overcome this phase. “It was more about mental make up and I focused on that primarily,” he said.
Gill’s magnificent innings of 128 runs off 235 balls helped India reach a comfortable position at the end of the day’s play on Day 3 of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He stitched two crucial partnerships with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli of 113 runs and 58 runs, respectively. Nathan Lyon eventually trapped him lbw, but Gill’s contribution had set up the game nicely for India.
