Shubman Gill produced an unforgettable innings of 269 runs against England in the second Test at Edgbaston, breaking several records along the way. Despite the monumental score, Gill admitted it wasn’t smooth sailing and shared how he turned to head coach Gautam Gambhir for advice during a tricky phase.
Gill, who had also scored a century in the first Test, made adjustments to his approach to stay longer at the crease. Yet, at one point, he felt stuck and unable to find boundaries consistently.
“𝒀𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒚 1, 𝒂𝒕 𝑻𝒆𝒂, 𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 35-40, 𝑰 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝑮 𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒊, 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔,”
Gill revealed during a conversation with Deep Dasgupta after stumps.
Turning to Gambhir for Support
Gill explained that the ball had turned soft, making stroke-making harder.
“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Despite the struggle, Gill remained determined not to throw away his wicket. “I had just one aim that I would not let go of it. If there was one learning for me from the previous game, it was that there could be a collapse at any time in the game. So my mindset was to make as few errors as possible,” he added.
Learning From Past Mistakes
Coming into this series, Gill did not have an impressive record in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia). The memories of disappointing performances in Australia still lingered. However, he worked hard during the IPL and in preparation for this tour to address those shortcomings.
“𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏,”
Gill admitted.
“𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
He emphasized that this mindset helped him rediscover his rhythm. “Sometimes, when you are not scoring runs, you tend to focus a lot on it, and hence don’t enjoy the moment,” Gill concluded.
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