Watch: Shubman Gill attacks Rehan Ahmed in Vizag Test, smacks back-to-back boundaries

Shubman Gill is looking in sublime form during India’s 2nd innings with the bat on day 3 of the 2nd Test in Vishakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA stadium. He has shown terrific composure and improvement in his batting technique and displayed his power-hitting prowess during Rehan Ahmed’s 11th over as he smacked back-to-back boundaries to reach the 80s before getting to his 3rd Test century and 1st ever against England.

Ever since he took over the number 3 role from Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill had struggled to find his rhythm and was constantly giving away his wicket after getting off to good starts. He was heavily criticized by former Indian cricketers and pundits all over social media for approaching towards the ball with hard hands.

Watch Here:

6⃣,4⃣,4⃣

Shubman Gill accelerates against Rehan Ahmed and moves into the 80s 💥💥

Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/X85JZGt0EV#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @ShubmanGill | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/n14idRE73B

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 4, 2024

In the 1st Test at Hyderabad, Gill was removed by debutant Tom Hartley twice across innings. While trying to pull a middle and leg stump lined delivery towards mid-wicket before Ben Duckett completed a simple catch. In the 2nd innings, Gill went with extremely hard hands again while trying to defend the ball down from Hartley before handing another catching opportunity, this time to the silly point fielder Ollie Pope.

As an obvious result, Gill was being touted to miss the 2nd Test due to his poor form and it took a press conference from Rahul Dravid to shut down all the talk.

“He is doing all the right things. He is working really hard. He is putting in the time, putting in the effort (at nets). In the last season he has got a couple of nice hundreds for us, one in Bangladesh and one in Ahmedabad against Australia. I think he is on the right track.” – Rahul Dravid told the press after India lost 1st Test by 28-runs. 

In the 2nd Test where Shubman Gill had the platform to script a comeback in the 1st innings, he casually gave his wicket to veteran James Anderson by slashing his bat out to an outside off delivery which was comfortably caught by Ben Foakes behind the stumps for 34 runs before Yashasvi Jaiswal reached his maiden double hundred later in the innings.

After India posted 396 in the 1st innings, England were quickly bowled out, majorly due to the Jasprit Bumrah masterclass on day 2. In the early minutes of day 3, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Rohit Sharma were removed very quickly and the onus was on Shubman Gill to produce a knock in order to stabilize the batting order.

Shubman Gill Departs After Scoring 3rd Test Century While Trying To Play Reverse Sweep Off Shoaib Bashir

The 24-year-old steadied India’s ship with another under fire batter Shreyas Iyer by stitching an 81-run partnership before the latter’s departure. And after Rajat Patidar’s short-lived inning of 9 runs, Shubman Gill found the support of all-rounder Axar Patel.

Gill carried on his positive start and reached his 3rd Test hundred with a single off Shoaib Bashir. The off-spinner eventually took his wicket after the Fazilka-born batter tried to play a reverse sweep. Gill closed the face of his bat way too early as he initiated the shot with mere hopes of connection with the ball before it struck his gloves, tossed up, and landed on Foakes’ safe pair of hands.