‘He’s got a little bit of a technical issue’ – VVS Laxman on Shubman Gill being under pressure after low scores against England

India’s young opening batsman Shubman Gill has delivered a disappointing performance in the ongoing last Test of the four-match series between India and England at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. Day 1 saw some major action as the hosts were successful in bundling out the England side for a paltry total of 205 runs. Axar Patel was the pick of the bowlers for India as he scalped four wickets while Ravi Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj had three and two wickets under their belt respectively. 

However, India had a torrid start to their batting innings as they lost their opening batsman Shubman Gill for a three-ball duck. England’s pace spearhead James Anderson bowled a stunning delivery to send Gill back to the pavilion. This was the fifth consecutive failure for the young batsman as he has failed to make a mark in the Test series against England thus far. 

Shubman had started the Test series on a good note and smashed a stunning half-century in the second innings of the first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. But since then, he could only manage scores of 0, 14, 11, 15*, and 0 across five innings. 

Gill had made his debut for India in the purest format of the game in the second Test against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground last year and had managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity with his decent gameplay. However, his dismissals on the Indian pitches have highlighted his technical flaws and that has raised a lot of eyebrows in the cricket fraternity.

Shubman Gill has got a little bit of a technical issue: VVS Laxman

Speaking about the same, India’s veteran batsman VVS Laxman opined that Gill definitely needs to work on his technical issues as losing his wicket cheaply on flat pitches is unacceptable. Laxman also feels that the low scores will increase pressure on the youngster and he needs to remember that batsmen like KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are sitting on the bench. 

“Definitely (he needs to work against the incoming deliveries)… especially on a wicket like this which is a flat one compared to the previous pitches in Chennai and Ahmedabad,” Laxman said in the post-match show on Star Sports.

“He’s got a little bit of a technical issue. You can see his head is falling over, his right leg is coming across just to over-compensate. I just felt once he got started, he did not convert them into big scores and now the pressure will be on him, you also have to remember you’ve got KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal waiting for their opportunities,” Laxman added.