Playing Shami, Bumrah in nets boosted my confidence: Gill

Indian opener says he is disappointed with the way he was dismissed

Hyderabad: India took control of the second Test on the back of a superlative unbeaten century by captain Ajinkya Rahane on the second day of the second Test in Melbourne on Sunday.With a handy 89-run first innings lead and five wickets in hand, the visitors are on the top in the Test. However, it was debutant Shubman Gill who gave a good start with a 61-odd run partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara after losing another opener Mayank Agarwal for a duck on the first day.

The Punjab lad scored a steady 45-run knock and looked comfortable against a top-quality bowling attack consisting Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Speaking about his game plan, he said:“When I came into bat, the ball was doing a bit and the pitch was lively. The only thing I told myself was no matter what is happening on the pitch I should be able to play my game and express myself. My goal was to give my team a good start. When we lost Mayank early, my chat with Pujara was to take this partnership as deep as possible.”

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When asked about the talk from the captain before the innings, he said, “Rahane didn’t tell me anything in particular. I had some plans and expectations from myself and my plan should match the team. I was talking to batting coach (Vikram Rathour) and head coach Ravi sir on how to approach this game.”

Despite playing his first Test, he looked comfortable at the crease and he said playing the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in nets gave him confidence. “I have been travelling with the team for the last four five Test series and it helped me settle in the team. I was able to bat in nets against Bhuvi, Bumrah and Shami bhai and it was a big confidence booster for a youngster like me. When I went into bat today, I didn’t feel like I was out of place. I was confident,” added the youngster.

But he was disappointed with the way he got out. “After the way I got out, I am not really satisfied with the innings. That was the last ball of the Cummin’s spell and I should have seen it off. It was a loose shot to play. Overall, I wanted to play with intent and stretch the partnership. But it was disappointing to get out like that.”

He was all praise for Rahane’s knock and said it was a learning lesson for him to watch his innings. “His knock was all about being patient. When you are playing a high quality attack sometimes you go into that shell and not score runs. But the way he batted, he saw off tough periods and scored runs. Watching the innings was educational.

Jadeja’s knock was also crucial. After losing five wickets, we could have easily surrendered the advantage. But they both played brilliantly to forge a good partnership. Hopefully, we will score as many runs as possible on the board and get the Australians out for a low total as batting on this wicket in the fourth innings can get very tough. The wicket will have more cracks and a lot of spin on the offer,” he concluded.

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