"Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners" - Sanjay Manjrekar after star's middling scores in IND vs NZ 2024 2nd Test
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has observed that Shubman Gill looks under pressure while facing spinners and does not have 'the feel' for them. Manjrekar acknowledged that he expected something extraordinary when Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal were going strong on Day 3 of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday, October 26.
Gill missed the opening Test against the Kiwis and replaced KL Rahul in the second. While the right-hander got starts in both innings, he couldn't make it count, perishing for 30 and 23 as India succumbed to a series defeat.
Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo, Manjrekar stated:
"When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches."
New Zealand's spinners, especially Mitchell Santner, ran riot in both innings, with the left-arm spinner claiming 13 wickets in the match. Jaiswal was the only Indian batter to make a half-century across both innings in Pune.
"There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin" - Sanjay Manjrekar
In the same conversation, Manjrekar pointed out that much of India's top-order are susceptible to spin. He felt that the game could have been a lot closer had the Indain batsmen trusted their defence more.
"Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease," he said. "There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half. I think that if India backed their defence a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around."
The third and final Test between India and New Zealand begins on November 1 in Mumbai.