Hanuma Vihari Highlights The Key To Survive Against Shannon Gabriel

West Indian seamer Shannon Gabriel may not have the reputation of being the best around the globe, but he indeed has managed to trouble some potent Test batsmen. In 46 Tests so far, he has 137 wickets, having made his debut in 2012. And Indian Test batsman Hanuma Vihari underlines the key to survive against Shannon Gabriel.

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In the first innings of the ongoing Test between England and West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, Gabriel exploited the conditions to good effect. The 32-year old removed the first four batsmen, the first of which was Dom Sibley, whose poor judgement while leaving the ball lead to his dismissal for a duck. Captain Jason Holder picked the remaining six.

According to Hanuma Vihari, Shannon Gabriel is a wicket-taking bowler with pace and height. Vihari stated that the Barbadian could dislodge any batsman and Vihari left the balls which remained out of his horizon. All Vihari did was to wait patiently for the seamer to commit mistakes and capitalize on the bad deliveries. Hence, batsmen must have patience while dealing with him.

“He (Shannon Gabriel) is a wicket-taking bowler. He has pace and height. He can intimidate any batsman but I ensured that I left the balls which were not in my area. I tried to wait for the balls patiently. So I waited for him to make a mistake, and I capitalized on that. I was happy I could do that,”

Hanuma Vihari made his debut against England during the 5th Test of the 2018 series at the Oval. In his maiden Test innings, the 26-year old mustered a fifty against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Moeen Ali. Hence, he claims that confidence was his strength when playing in England.

“It is easy to get intimidated by the quality of bowlers but I was really confident of my skills when I was in England,” Vihari stated as quoted by Sportstar.

Shannon Gabriel went wicketless against Hanuma Vihari’s century in Kingston:

Walking down the memory lane, when the Andhra Pradesh-born batsman scored his maiden Test hundred last August at the Sabina Park, Gabriel went without wickets.

The right-handed batsman scored 111 and 53 in the first and second innings respectively while the seamer could not buy any wicket across 28 overs in the game.

As far as the first Test between England and West Indies is concerned, the hosts have slashed down the trail to 35 runs. A few minutes before lunch, Rory Burns departed for 42, slicing the ball to backward point off-spinner Roston Chase.