Shubman Gill took ten balls to get off the mark, and 19 to hit his only boundary against Pakistan in Pallekele on Saturday. When he inside-edged his 32nd delivery — a fullish ball by Haris Rauf — onto the stumps after making 10 runs at a strike rate of 31.25, the slowest of his 28 ODI innings was brought to a frustrating end.
During his stay at the crease, there were multiple plays and misses, a few leaves and the odd leading edge. To be fair, this was the 23-year-old’s first experience of playing against Pakistan at senior level, of squaring up against the potent pace pack of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Rauf and having to fight for every run.
On the one occasion Rauf sprayed a delivery on his pads, Gill tucked it away for four through fine leg. But such offerings didn’t come often; what instead did were deliveries that swung extravagantly and seamed. He was put through a proper examination, especially in the ninth over by Afridi, the left-arm pacer getting his lengths spot on and keeping Gill guessing with which way the ball would jag.
The game was almost a throwback to one-dayers of an earlier era when you would have to treat the bowlers with utmost respect in the first 15 overs before upping the ante. Gill was attempting to dig in and do that, until his failure to not take enough of a forward stride to a pitched-up ball led to his downfall.
{{/usCountry}}The game was almost a throwback to one-dayers of an earlier era when you would have to treat the bowlers with utmost respect in the first 15 overs before upping the ante. Gill was attempting to dig in and do that, until his failure to not take enough of a forward stride to a pitched-up ball led to his downfall.
{{/usCountry}}It prolongs Gill's recent search for fluency. Having had a near flawless run in the first half of this year — he hit five centuries in 17 matches across formats for India to go with a splendid IPL season for Gujarat Titans — his form has tapered off slightly since the tour of the Caribbean in July. It is reflected in a return of 283 runs in 11 matches at an average of 25.72.
Gill has visibly struggled to get going on the two-paced surfaces he’s recently played on – his strike rate is 71.95 in his last four ODIs and 120 in his last five T20Is. Not surprisingly perhaps, his most fluent knock in the recent series against West Indies did not come in the Caribbean, but on a belter of a pitch in Lauderhill, USA where he cracked a 47-ball 77.
Be it the pitches in the Caribbean or the one in Pallekele, variable bounce has planted doubts in the minds of batters wanting to play through the line. On Saturday, for instance, a 142kph delivery by Shah in the second over carried nicely to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan while the next ball, clocked at 143kph, went on the bounce.
Gill won’t be alone in finding such tracks challenging, but he does seem to get bogged down more often. Even in this year’s IPL, where he played a starring role in his team’s runner-up finish, his strike rate away from home wasn’t as imperious as it was on the flat pitches in Ahmedabad.
With just a month to go for his first senior World Cup — India have a maximum of eight matches before their first game against Australia on October 8 — it’s not ideal that Gill is looking to regain his batting rhythm. While the World Cup marks the start of a fresh home season in India, the pitches will tire as the tournament goes on and ask similar questions of Gill.
Not that alarm bells are ringing in the Indian camp yet.
“I won’t worry much about Shubman Gill. He is batting beautifully. He’s playing really well. He looks really good. It can happen,” coach Rahul Dravid had told reporters during the ODI series in the Caribbean. “You can’t criticise people after every single game. You know these things can happen. It’s not easy batting conditions, let’s be honest. We needed to grind and find our way out there.”
Even if this was Dravid speaking more than a month ago, his opinion on Gill is unlikely to have changed, for he is an outright match-winner on his best days. For his and India’s sake, they need to arrive sooner rather than later.