Michael Vaughan, the former captain of England, was quite pleased with Shubman Gill’s performance as he reached his first double century in Test cricket. In the second Test match against England, the Indian skipper finished his innings with 269 from 387 balls, including 30 boundaries and three maximums, smashing a dominating double tonne. Vaughan was pleased with Gill’s ability to bat calmly under duress and save his team from difficulty.
Although the pitch was flat and easy to bat, the Punjabi batter did not lose focus and maintained a high level of concentration, according to the former cricket player who is now a commentator. The ace batter’s level of commitment on a pitch where hitters frequently make mistakes and attempt hazardous drives or lofted hits also impressed the former cricket player.
“The first thing that comes to mind when you watch someone play that well—and we’ve all been discussing it—is a flat wicket. Shubman Gill did not make a mistake when England batted, but they lost three wickets as a result of their three blunders. Thus, I will give him a great deal of credit for his focus, his commitment to staying in, and then his pure stroke play,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
“I’ve seen many many great innings, and that is up there with those great innings, because someone that is 0-1 down in the series, is captaining his country for the second time, the pressure is on, the talk of the team being a negative one, to walk out and score that amount of runs and put you team in such a dominating position to allow your bowlers to run in hard for an hour and get three wickets, that is why I rank it as such a high valued innings,” he stated.
Gill has an opportunity to leave a legacy now: Vaughan
Vaughan went on to say that it is admirable that he has made small adjustments to his technique that have protected him from his previous weaknesses. With his technique, Shubman Gill made care to keep his position at the crease together despite the difficulties the England bowlers presented. The former batter added that Gill’s moment has arrived to establish himself as the Indian team’s leader as well as a hitter.
“England has attempted to counter the Leg Before Wicket (lbw) that Gill has previously been susceptible to, but I believe that his current technique is so strong that he has the opportunity to simply say, ‘You know what, you can bowl whatever you want, my technique will look after me.'” Vaughan came to the conclusion that now was his moment to leave a legacy as a batter and a leader.