Shubman Gill is a much better player when... - Anil Kumble's huge take on batter

Former India leg-spinner and Test skipper Anil Kumble who played a key role in the Indian team’s success in major parts of the 1990s and 2000s, heaped praise on 24-year-old number 3 Test batter Shubman Gill, claiming that he turned out to become a extremely different player when he approaches his innings with an aggressive mindset.

Kumble made this comment while speaking to Jio Cinema yesterday after seeing Shubman Gill score an unbeaten half-century on day 3 of India’s 2nd innings with the bat as they look to set up a target of anything beyond 450 runs to put furthermore pressure on Ben Stokes’ England.

Rohit Sharma’s men have been on top of the proceedings since the start of the 3rd Test at the Niranjan Shah stadium in Rajkot. India batted first after winning the coin toss on Friday morning and that was perhaps the correct decision given the fact that it is a belter of a track to bat on.

However, the Indians got off to a crumbling start as 2nd Test heroes Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill got out cheaply for 10 and 0 while number 4 batter Rajat Patidar disappointed yet again by choosing to play a bad shot and gave his wicket to Tom Hartley with a soft dismissal for 5 runs.

India were reduced to 33/3 when hometown all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja arrived to bat at the middle. He stood for a 204-run partnership with Rohit Sharma, who eventually departed after amassing 131 runs off Mark Wood before Sarfaraz Khan came out in the middle, scored a fantastic half-century but was very unfortunate to have lost his wicket during a mix-up with Jadeja which resulted in a run-out.

But India were still able to post 445 on the back of Ravindra Jadeja’s century and in response England could only score as much as 319 in response which was made largely possible through Ben Duckett’s ton. When India came out for their 2nd innings yesterday, Rohit got out for 19 but Jaiswal and Shubman Gill made a 100+ partnership to further solidify India’s position in the game.

While Jaiswal got retired hurt for 104 on day 3’s closing session, Shubman Gill scored a much-needed half-century after getting out for a duck in the 1st innings.

“When his intent is aggressive…”- Kumble on Shubman Gill

Anil Kumble who also served as team India’s head coach from 2016 to 2017, stated that Shubman Gill automatically becomes a better player when he comes out with an aggressive intent and approach. Kumble further explained that Gill was fantastic in the 3rd innings and was evidently playing with soft hands which helped his cause quite a lot.

“I think Shubman Gill, when his intent is aggressive, I think he’s a much better player. He’s looking to score runs and that’s the way he plays. But when he gets subdued that’s when his feet don’t move and then he goes hard at the ball. But today it was fantastic,” Anil Kumble said via Jio Cinema.

On day 4 of the Rajkot Test, Gill, and Kuldeep resumed their innings on a high note but the former missed out on his 2nd triple-digit score in the series by just 9 runs after getting run out at the non-striker’s end. India are currently 249/3 after 66 overs.