'I couldn't sleep and had to take a sleeping pill' - Shubman Gill before making his Test debut

India’s young opening batsman Shubman Gill is known for his temperament and the right-hander managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity with his grit and determination during the India tour of Australia. The poor form of Prithvi Shaw in the first Test at Adelaide paved the way for Gill to earn his maiden Test call in the second Test at MCG.

The Melbourne Test was a real challenge for the visiting nation considering they were bundled out for a paltry total of 36 runs in the first game, India’s lowest ever Test total. This was a shocker for both the Indian players and the fans and things changed pretty quickly in the favour of the hosts in the third innings.

Speaking about the disaster class at Adelaide Oval, Gill reckoned that the whole team didn’t know how to react as just an hour of bad cricket changed everything. However, Gill was confident about contributing positively towards the Indian team as he didn’t want the series to be remembered as “the great Adelaide collapse”.

“When the 36-all-out happened in Adelaide, it was really shocking for us. We didn’t know how to react because everything happened so quickly. We didn’t get the time to absorb it. We were in a comfortable position in the match, and in an hour everything changed.

“What really triggered me was that the day after this incident there was a news item that said “the great Adelaide collapse”. I was reading it and all I could think at that time was that I don’t want the series to be remembered in terms of the collapse,” Shubman Gill told Forbes India.

Before our first match [in Adelaide], I knew I’ll get to debut in the MCG match: Shubman Gill

Gill had a memorable debut as he scored 45 and 35 not out across the two innings in Melbourne and helped India in winning the game by 8 wickets and leveling the series by 1-1. Opening about his condition before making his Test debut, Gill revealed that due to nervousness and anxiety he couldn’t sleep the whole night and had to take sleeping pills.

“Before our first match [in Adelaide], I knew I’ll get to debut in the MCG match. I couldn’t sleep and had to take a sleeping pill. Next morning, on the first day of the Test, we were fielding first. It didn’t hit me then that I was making my debut since the entire team was on the field.

In the evening, I had to go in to bat. When I faced my first 10-12 balls, the enormity of the occasion sunk in–I am playing at the international level, facing the best bowling attack. That’s when I told myself that now I need to be really focussed,” the 21-year-old concluded.