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Harbhajan Singh defends Shubman Gill despite failure in second innings: 'He wanted to go for a six but...'
Shubman Gill was dismissed on 5 in the second innings of the third Test, falling to Nathan Lyon as he stepped out in an attempt to smash the spinner for a six.
Team India had a frustrating start to its second innings on Day 2 of the Test against Australia, as the side lost four wickets on 78 after conceding an 88-run lead. The side had been bowled out on merely 109 in the first innings and even as Australia had been at a strong position at the end of the day (156/4), the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav steered a comeback for the hosts, as the Aussies could only add 41 more runs in the morning session.
Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had gone unbeaten at Lunch but the latter gave his wicket away rather cheaply when the duo arrived for the second session of the day. Against Nathan Lyon, Gill stepped out as the spinner bowled from around the wicket, and completed missed the line, eventually being castled. Gill scored only 5, lasting 15 deliveries in the second innings.
Incidentally, Gill made a return to the Indian Test XI in this match, replacing the underperforming opener KL Rahul. In the first innings, the youngster had scored 21 and his dismissal in the second innings drew criticism for Gill from various fans on social media.
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, however, backed Gill amid the backlash for the youngster and stated that the only way of playing on such a pitch is to go looking for shots.
“See, the game plan is simple here. You can't survive on this pitch with defence. Pujara was using his feet throughout his innings. If you're thinking that you can wait out for a spell and score runs later, it won't work. Even if you're playing on 70-80 on this pitch, you can get out with just one odd delivery,” Harbhajan said.
“You have to look out for the opportunity to score runs. You need to see where you can get a four. Shubman wanted to go for a six, and when you consider the pitch condition here, his approach was right because you can't defend on this pitch for long,” Harbhajan further said.
