Credit: BCCI/X
In the third Test of the five-match series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India suffered a tough 22-run defeat against England at Lord’s in London on the fifth day. India find themselves 2-1 down in the series, and in the build-up to the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, Sanjay Manjrekar, the former Indian cricketer, spoke about how Indian Test captain Shubman Gill wasn’t able to play at his best with the bat in the all-important run chase of 193 runs in third Test.
During his interview with ESPNcricinfo on their exclusive show, Sanjay Manjrekar alluded to the heated altercation with Zak Crawley on the third day of the Lord’s Test when England were setting up a target for India to chase. In pursuit of the runs on fourth evening, when Gill came out to bat, the English players were all over him, and he ended up losing his wicket cheaply to Brydon Carse for six runs, which brought the hosts back into the match.
Because that seemed like it didn't have the right effect on Shubman Gill the batter: Sanjay Manjrekar
According to Sanjay Manjrekar, the aforementioned situation didn’t help Shubman Gill’s cause with the bat in hand since he got dismissed lbw despite showcasing incredible defensive technique in the first couple of Tests of the series. Manjrekar was quoted as saying, “The thing with Virat Kohli was that he would get even more fired up and become a better batter [if things got nasty]. What disappointed me with Shubman Gill and that is why I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading? Because that seemed like it didn't have the right effect on Shubman Gill the batter.”
Furthermore, Manjrekar also pointed out how Gill wasn’t himself with the bat in the second innings of Lord’s Test amid the charged up the England players coming hard at him with verbals. He remarked, “He (Shubman Gill) came out looking very tentative and, you know, these days we are privy to the stump mic and we could hear the things being said and there were some personal attacks made.”
“This could be a new experience for Shubman Gill because these days, as you can see, you know, with Indian players, there's mostly friendly reception from a lot of foreign teams. So this was new territory. And he looked tentative and wasn't up for it,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
