'Allan Border Was There In The Practice Games And He Ws Quite Impressed With What He Saw'- Sunil Gavaskar Lavishes Praise On Young Indian Batsman

Former Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar has been impressed by a young Indian batsman ahead of the four-match Test series between India and Australia. The much-anticipated Test series between Australia and India kickstarts on the 17th of December at the Adelaide Oval with both teams looking to finalising their combination. Sunil Gavaskar has strongly backed Shubman Gill to open the innings in the first Test.

Shubman Gill has made rapid strides in the last couple of years to prove and earmark himself as one of the future batting stars. The 21-year old, who made his international debut back in early 2019, did not enjoy the desired outing; however, hardly fell from the selectors’ radar as he continued to keep the runs coming in the domestic circuit with his watertight technique. Gill averages a daunting 68.78 in 23 first-class matches alongside seven centuries and 11 fifties.

And the youngster has made a solid case ahead of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. The final warm-up game against Australia A in Sydney saw Shubman Gill batting consistently at the top of the order, scoring 43 and 65 runs in the first and second innings respectively. The Punjab batsman has since then grabbed the attention and experts have backed him ahead of a struggling Prithvi Shaw to open with Mayank Agarwal.

Allan Border was there for the games and was very impressed: Sunil Gavaskar

Based on current form, Sunil Gavaskar backed Shubman Gill to open with Mayank Agarwal, claiming that Allan Border, who was with him for warm-up games, was also impressed. Hence, Gavaskar would much rather prefer Gill to bat at the top-order alongside Mayank Agarwal in the first Test.

“I think Shubman Gill should open with Mayank for the first Test match because he’s shown good form. Allan Border was there for the games (practice games), (and) was very impressed with what he saw from Shubman Gill. So I would imagine that he should open with Mayank Agarwal for the first Test,” Gavaskar said as quoted by India Today.

Former Australian captain Allan Border, who revealed to be in Sydney to watch India play against Australia A, was in awe of Shubman Gill. Border hailed his technique and mentioned him as a ‘seriously good player’ and his pick out of the men he witnessed.

“I’ve been in Sydney the last couple of days, watching the Indian team against Australia A. Gee, I was impressed with Gill. “I really think he’s got something about him, his technique. I know he’s young so he can play a few rash shots here and there, but he looks a seriously good player, this kid. He would be my pick out of the guys I saw,” Border stated.

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