“Don’t think there’s a problem with the youngsters being not humble” - Shubman Gill answers tricky query on players’ attitude
Team India batter Shubman Gill disagreed with the observation that Rohit Sharma was cautious about praising Yashasvi Jaiswal after his Rajkot heroics as he wanted the youngster to remain humble.
Jaiswal hit a terrific double hundred in the second innings of the third Test in Rajkot, his second 200-plus score in successive matches. Speaking to the media after India’s record 434-run in the match, Rohit did not say a lot about the opener’s performance and commented, ‘let him play’.
At a pre-match press conference ahead of the fourth Test in Ranchi, Gill was asked whether Rohit was guarded in his praise of Jaiswal since he feared the youngster could develop an attitude. The young batter did not read too much into the observation and commented:
“I don’t think there’s a problem with the youngsters being not humble. We have seen Jaiswal scoring back-to-back double hundreds. If you don’t have it in you, you won’t be able to do that. There aren’t many people in world Test cricket who have scored back-to-back double hundreds. He definitely is a sensational player. We have seen it over 8-9 Tests."
“I don’t think there’s any conscious decision. Maybe Rohit bhai didn’t want to talk about it at that point of time,” Gill opined.
Jaiswal has made a sensational start to his Test career. In seven matches, he has scored 861 runs at an average of 71.75, with three hundreds and two fifties.
“I was disappointed because I could not live up to my expectations” - Shubman Gill reflects on lean run
After a bright start to his Test career, Gill failed to perform consistently and came into the series against England with his place under the scanner. After a poor Test in Hyderabad, he lifted himself with a hundred in Visakhapatnam and 91 in Rajkot.
Asked how he dealt with failures, Gill admitted that it was not an easy phase.
“It’s quite difficult because you keep thinking about so many things. There are expectations from you. When I was going through it [poor form], what people on the outside were saying did not bother me a lot. But I was disappointed because I could not live up to my expectations,” the 24-year-old said.
“However, it is important to focus on the next ball when you get a chance to bat again. The difference between a big player and average one is how they put behind what has happened before and focus on the present,” Gill concluded.
After 23 matches, the right-handed batter has 1,292 runs to his name at an average of 32.30, with three hundreds and five fifties.