Shubman Gill has to alter his game, says Wasim Jaffer

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer believes Shubman Gill must alter his game and show some improvement if he wishes to bat for long at number three in the Test team, especially when playing on slow and low conditions.

Gill volunteered to bat at number three for the ongoing Test series against West Indies, but hasn’t quite hit the straps at a position whose previous occupants were Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. In the Dominica Test, Gill's first innings at number three yielded only six runs. In the first innings of the ongoing Test at Port of Spain, he could make only ten runs.

“Away from India in SENA countries, he’s a good choice as number three. But in slow and low conditions, he has to alter his game and improve on it. We have seen this in this series against West Indies, that he likes to play the ball on the rise. If you see the innings of Virat Kohli, he has respected the conditions.”

“Gill would have liked to go out and score runs, but respecting the conditions is something Shubman has to learn and understand. With time, he will surely do it, but in away conditions like South Africa and Australia, he will enjoy batting at number three, where the ball comes on to the bat at a faster pace. But when it doesn’t happen, that’s where he has to adapt and change his game a little bit,” said Jaffer, an expert for JioCinema, in a select virtual media interaction.

For long, Gill has been projected as the future leader of the Indian batting order across formats. It was anticipated for some time that he would be batting at number three or in the middle-order in Tests whenever the transition period in the side is initiated. Jaffer felt a stroke-player like Gill has to tighten his game whenever India plays in conditions where there isn’t much pace to offer.

“First of all, it’s his personal choice. He sees it as that spot being empty and wants to bat there. Looking at the bigger picture, he wants to bat there for a longer period. But the start hasn’t been the way he wanted. In the last game, he got out to a good ball which spun from the front. But I was a little bit disappointed on how he got out in this match (at Trinidad) as he had a good chance to bat on a wicket which was good to bat on.”

“He got a good start and I felt he played a little loose. He will obviously be disappointed with that dismissal and that’s where he needs to tighten up as he likes for the ball to come on to the bat. He’s playing white-ball cricket a lot and has gotten used to hitting on the rise.”

“He wants that pace on the ball, which he gets at white-ball cricket. But in red-ball cricket, on wickets like this, especially when playing in India, you cannot easily play on the rise. He needs to understand and improve his game for those conditions. When the ball comes on, he will be fine and we saw that when he played in Australia. So, he needs to tighten up that part of his game,” he elaborated.

Jaffer opined that batting at number three shouldn’t be challenging for Gill, barring the need to wait for a while for one’s turn to come out to bat when the openers pile on big runs. “I feel he’s confident in himself of batting at number three, which is his choice. I don’t think there’s much difference as an opener might get out in first/second over and he will be acting as an opener anyway.”

“Batting at one, two and three positions doesn’t make much of a difference; the only difference is when openers have a big partnership and you have to sit for two-three hours, which makes it a little bit difficult. Other than that, I don’t see much difference.”

With the onus now on Gill to try and make the most of batting at number three in Tests, Jaffer reckons Pujara’s comeback in the side will be a difficult task, citing youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and possible return of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant after recovering from respective injuries.

“As far as Pujara is concerned, things will become difficult for him. Going forward, there will be some difficulties for him and you have to look towards new guys as well in the World Test Championship cycle. Like, Shreyas Iyer will return and after some time, Rishabh Pant will be back.”

“On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal is succeeding and Shubman Gill is someone who will play for long in all three formats. Keeping all of this in mind, it will be difficult for Cheteshwar Pujara to make a comeback into the national team,” he concluded.