TimesofIndia.com in Birmingham: One couldn’t complain when Shubman Gill fumbled while raising the bat on his way back to the change room. He was a tired man, and having raised the blade eight times in a Test match is no ordinary feat. He walked back to the hut to thundering applause from the Indian dressing room and fans, which, however, was preceded by the loud chants of “Boring... Boring India” from the notorious Eric Hollies Stand, taking a dig at India’s tactics of delaying the declaration.Gill was dismissed for a 162-ball 161, laced with 13 boundaries and eight sixes, and his sublime knock was anything but boring. Even the Englishmen seemed happy to let him bat as they repeatedly failed to spot the ball in the outfield. It was a special knock, followed by the marathon 269-run outing in the first essay of the Edgbaston Test.For a cricketer obsessed with his batting, it was a dream outing for Gill in Birmingham, as he became the only batter to cross 250 and 150 in the same Test. He broke Virat Kohli‘s record, bettered Sunil Gavaskar‘s tally in a single match, and was within striking distance of Graham Gooch‘s 456 vs India at Lord’s in 1990. The 25-year-old’s aggregate of 430 will be remembered for a very long time because it came at a time when the spotlight only increased on the youngster.
The Test captaincy, woeful record away from home, and under-par outings Down Under last year meant the stakes were higher than usual, and Gill ensured he went all in as far as his preparations were concerned. He was hell-bent on not repeating Australia in the Test assignments to follow, even before getting a wind about the captaincy.It was about Gill the batter, who switched to red-ball mode while the Indian Premier League (IPL) was underway. Every now and then, he would train with the red Dukes with his good friend Khushpreet Singh Aulakh and other net bowlers of the franchise. What started as getting a feel of the shining red cherry turned into full-fledged sessions once Gujarat Titans’ (GT) tournament ended in Chandigarh, as he spent hours under the sun getting his technique right before boarding the flight to the United Kingdom.
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For Gill, it wasn’t restricted to getting a feel of the ball but finding the joy all over again and working on the initial movement and the overall set-up. In a chat with the broadcaster after his 269-run knock, the skipper spoke at length about the changes he made to his batting and the changes which were also noticed by batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. India’s batting coach credited the youngster for finding his own way during the break, and it has been paying rich returns so far.The friendly batting conditions have helped him find top gear, but the old problem of the front foot falling far too across is no longer there in his set-up, and the bat comes down very close to the pad, leaving no gap for the ball to sneak through. The strides are positive, and the alignment of his head right over the impact point of bat and ball has allowed him to maintain balance and get into proper positions.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?Apart from the technical adjustments, it’s the mental aspect which has allowed him to concentrate longer for the marathon knocks he played in Edgbaston.“I was scoring 30-35-40 runs consistently in Test matches. But at some point, I was missing that peak concentration time. A lot of people say that when you focus too much, you sometimes miss your peak time. So, in this series, I tried to go back to my basics. I tried to bat like I used to in my childhood. I didn’t think about having reached 35-40 runs or about playing long innings. I just wanted to enjoy my batting,” Gill had said.The changes were acknowledged and applauded by his father, Lakhwinder Singh Gill, who was reminded of the right-hander’s early days. He was not satisfied because a triple hundred was there for the taking.“You were batting like in your U-16 and U-19 days — I felt very proud,” said Gill’s father in a voice message shared by the BCCI.585 runs in just four innings, featuring one hundred, one 150+, and one double hundred, is a terrific start to the series, and both Gill and the Indian cricket team would hope the runs continue to flow from their skipper’s bat in rest of the Tests.Score at stumps, Day 4: India 587 & 427/6 decl. vs England 407 & 72/3 (16 overs) – England need 536 runs.
