With India already without talisman Virat Kohli for the series opener against England, premier batter Shubman Gill has received the backing of head coach Rahul Dravid in the lead-up to the Hyderabad Test on Tuesday. Newly promoted to the No.3 batting position in the longest format, Gill was named the Cricketer of the Year by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at the apex cricket board awards yesterday.
The fastest batter to cross the 2,000-run mark in One Day Internationals (ODIs), Gill smashed 1584 runs from 29 matches at an average of 63.36 for Team India last year. The youngster also notched up five centuries in the 2023 season. One of the few batters with a distinction of scoring centuries across all formats, Gill has struggled to perform for Rohit Sharma and Co. in Tests. The former World No.1 batter only has 304 runs from seven Tests for the Asian giants.
'Gill is a fine player': Dravid
The Indian batter scored a brilliant 128 against Australia, although his average has been reduced to 27.63 in 2024. Speaking to reporters in the build-up to the 1st Test against England, Indian head coach Dravid opted to show his faith in Gill, who will be looking to revive his Test career in the five-match series.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian batter scored a brilliant 128 against Australia, although his average has been reduced to 27.63 in 2024. Speaking to reporters in the build-up to the 1st Test against England, Indian head coach Dravid opted to show his faith in Gill, who will be looking to revive his Test career in the five-match series.
{{/usCountry}}“Gill is a fine player. Starting out the journey as a cricketer sometimes…we forget that it takes a little bit of time at times. Some guys have success instantly, actually he is one of those guys who has done really well in some of his early days, especially in Australia. To be fair to him a lot of young guys coming through are playing on some challenging wickets, whether it’s been in India or England or West Indies. It has been a pretty challenging wickets for the last two or three years," Dravid said.
'He is doing all the right things'
Gill was elevated to the No.3 batting spot after the arrival of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Test setup. Gill was earlier opening the innings with skipper Rohit across formats. The 24-year-old has been batting at No.3 for India since the West Indies series. “He is doing all the right things. He is working really hard. He is putting in the time, putting in the effort (at nets). In the last season he has got a couple of nice hundreds for us, one in Bangladesh and one in Ahmedabad against Australia. I think he is on the right track,” Dravid added.