Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s mode of dismissals in India’s first innings of the ongoing Brisbane Test at the Gabba have received flak from former Pakistan batter Basit Ali, who said they need to show their hunger for runs and take advice from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
Jaiswal (4) was caught flicking Starc in the air on the second ball of India’s innings, while Gill (1) went for a flashy shot early in his knock and was caught in the slips.
Commenting on India’s promising youngsters, Basit said there’s no comparison between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not scoring runs and the likes of Jaiswal and Gill getting out cheaply.
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He said Kohli and Rohit have nothing to prove, while Jaiswal and Gill have only begun their careers on a promising note.
“Jaiswal aur Gill ko yeh nahi dekhna chahiye ke Kohli bhi out ho gaya (they shouldn’t take solace from the fact that Kohli too was dismissed without scoring much). He has performed (at the highest level); Rohit Sharma has performed,” said the 53-year-old Basit.
“You guys should be hungry about runs, which you are not ufortunate,” he said referring to Gill and Jaiswal. “Gill ko toh bilkul hi nahi hai bhookh (Gill is not hungry at all for runs). He loves shot-making, but Test cricket is a test of everything.
“You need to forget the past (good or bad) performances and think about what’s ahead, which unfortunately Gill and others don’t think,” he added.
Gavaskar too has criticised Gill, particularly for the selection of his shots. The former India captain and batting legend is in Australia as part of the commentary panel for Star Sports.
“Leave your image in the dressing room. Certain shots are dangerous at the start of your innings before you are set, and you don’t have the measure of what the wicket is doing,” Gavaskar said analysing Gill’s dismissal.
“Keep all those shots in your back pocket. Take them out when you are 30-40-50 not out, then can you get those shots again.”
Basit, meanwhile, admitted hat he and other batters around the world used to learn from Gavaskar’s opinion and analysis. He urged that the younger generation should also do that and improve their game.
“We could tune ourselves by just hearing Sunil Gavaskar. He is present there (in Australia), go to him,” said Basit.”Those players who have started their cricket journey, are playing at the under-19 level or are new to international cricket, they should listen Gavaskar talking. It will help and tell you even more about how you need to play.”
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Gill has so far played 30 Tests (excluding the ongoing Brisbane Test), scoring 1859 runs at an average of 36.45, including 5 hundreds and 7 fifties.
Jaiswal’s impressive start to his Test career has seen him play 16 matches so far, scoring 1592 runs at an average of 54.89, including 4 hundreds and 8 fifties.
In Brisbane, India have their backs against the wall and were struggling at 201 for 7 in response to Australia’s 445 when another rain interruption stopped play. The visitors are still 244 runs behind the hosts and 45 runs away from saving the follow-on
“If India manage to save this Test with the help of rain, they will need to regroup,” Basit concluded.
The five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy currently stands at 1-1, with India winning by 295 runs in Perth and Australia levelling things up with a 10-wicket victory in Adelaide.
