"It means the world to us, coming here and having to play the series with not much batting experience" - Shubman Gill
Team India batter Shubman Gill played a crucial role in the final innings of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi by scoring an unbeaten half-century and guiding the side to a five-wicket. It helped the home side seal the five-match series with a game to spare.
Gill arguably played one of the best knocks in his short Test career so far, not particularly in terms of volume, but for the extreme pressure as well as the challenging conditions.
Gill put on an unbeaten 72-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dhruv Jurel at the other end. The right-handed batter was stranded at one end as the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Rajat Patidar, and Sarfaraz Khan all perished to spinners in quick succession.
Gill recalled the conversation he had with Dhruv Jurel out in the middle during their match-winning partnership. He mentioned that he told the wicketkeeper-batter about his heroics in the first innings when he scored 90 runs while batting alongside the tail.
"I just told him (Jurel) you batted beautifully in the first innings and to have the same mindset, try to use the feet to negate the off-spinner. The way he came down and played was beautiful," Gill told the broadcasters in a post-match interaction.
Gill also added that the series victory is one for the ages considering the challenges that India had to navigate through. The hosts were without Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami for the entirety of the series, while the likes of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja also sustained injuries midway through the series.
"The first innings the ball was not turning much and hence I didn't use my feet, but second innings I decided to take the LBW out of the equation by using my feet. It means the world to us, coming here and having to play the series with not much batting experience, having lost KL after the first Test.. but Rohit Bhai backed us and gave us the confidence to go out and play with freedom," he added.
Team India were arguably on the ropes in the encounters in Rajkot and Ranchi, but showed great determination to overturn the situation in their favor to attain their 17th consecutive Test series win on home soil.
"You have to see the situation and play accordingly" - Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill was also under pressure following his inconsistent displays at No.3 in the West Indies and South Africa. He did not begin the series on the brightest of notes, but came back strongly with a century in Vishakapatnam and a well-made 91 in Rajkot. To top it all off, his unbeaten fifty in Ranchi comes across as the most crucial one of the entire lot.
Gill spoke about how the England bowlers kept things tight and credited the platform laid by the opening batters, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
"We were put under pressure by them, but we got a good start by our openers, losing couple of wickets put pressure. But Jurel came out and took the pressure off. You have to see the situation and play accordingly - they were bowling well and protecting the boundaries, also not giving maidens and keep picking the singles (was the mindset)," the batter concluded.
India will face England in the final contest of the series in Dharamsala from March 7 onwards.