Shubman Gill, who made his Test captaincy debut with the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, has impressed in almost every match of the England tour except for the Lord’s Test. In just three Tests, he has already broken Rahul Dravid’s record for the most runs by an Indian in a Test series in England — and there are still two matches left. Gill’s brilliant form took a hit at Lord’s, and former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes it was due to his “unnecessary aggression.”
Manjrekar has warned the Indian skipper not to try and become a brand like Virat Kohli by doing things that don’t suit his natural style. According to Manjrekar, Gill lost his focus during the Lord’s Test because of on-field confrontations with England players. He specifically pointed to the third day when Gill got into verbal exchanges with England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, which he thinks backfired.
On Day 4, when Gill came out to bat, he looked completely out of touch. It was hard to believe this was the same Gill who had scored 269 and 161 in the previous match. He even missed a full toss early in his innings and was eventually dismissed for just 6 runs off 9 balls.
Speaking on Jio Hotstar, Manjrekar cautioned Gill against chasing an image that doesn’t come naturally to him. He said that while Virat Kohli thrived on confrontations and would have probably scored a century in the second innings if he were in Gill’s place, Gill looked scared and out of his natural rhythm during his time at the crease.