"It was a massive error of judgment" - Saba Karim on Shubman Gill's dismissal in IND vs NZ 2024 3rd Test
Saba Karim has termed Shubman Gill's dismissal in India's second innings of the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai a 'massive error of judgment'. He pointed out that a batter is expected to place his bat in the line of the ball and not play for turn on a spinning track.
Gill managed a solitary run and was castled by Ajaz Patel while leaving a straight delivery. India eventually lost the game by 25 runs on Sunday, November 3, and with it the series 0-3.
During a discussion on Colors Cineplex, Saba was asked about his thoughts on Gill falling prey to Ajaz.
"It was a massive error of judgment. Considering the improvement that was seen in the first innings, it was being expected that he would easily judge this kind of line or ball. We have repeatedly been saying that on a spinning track, your first job is to get the bat in the line of the first line, which he didn't do," he responded.
The former India selector added that Gill didn't live up to the expectations from him, considering the improvements he had shown in his game on turning pitches.
"You shouldn't expect turn at all. He would have defended the ball easily had he brought the bat in the line of the ball. That's why it was a huge mistake in judgment from Shubman, which was unexpected. He had shown improvement in the first innings and that's why there were a lot of expectations," Saba elaborated.
"If he had survived the initial moments, he has now started to play a lot of shots. He has worked a lot on the sweep shot. It's proving a productive shot for Shubman Gill. In such conditions, he was a batter who was expected to bat solidly as a lot of improvement has been seen in his batting in spinning conditions," he added.
Shubman Gill top-scored with a 146-ball 90 in India's first innings. He was expected to be one of the key batters in the 147-run chase but the judgment error led to his downfall.
"He was not expecting the ball to go straight" - Parthiv Patel on Shubman Gill's dismissal
![Shubman Gill seemed bewildered when the ball crashed into the stumps. [P/C: BCCI]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/11/d0a19-17306274964992-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same discussion, Parthiv Patel opined that Shubman Gill wasn't expecting the ball to go straight.
"I feel he was looking at the pitch and playing. He was not expecting the ball to go straight. If you see, he did quite a few things correctly. He had covered the off-stump with his leg, it's not that the off-stump was exposed, but the ball went straight," he said.
The former India wicketkeeper-batter pointed out that virtually none of the deliveries bowled by the Indian bowlers went straight. However, he acknowledged that Gill's judgment was wrong.
"You have fielded so much in the slips and seen that no ball bowled by the Indian bowlers had gone straight. So you think that since the ball has pitched slightly outside the off-stump, it would spin and go away, but that didn't happen. If he had kept the bat along with the pad, the ball might have hit the bat. You will definitely call it an error of judgment," Patel observed.
Gill's dismissal reduced India to 16/2. The hosts lost their next three wickets for 13 runs and eventually fell short despite Rishabh Pant's fighting 64-run knock.