Under the spotlight, Kishan makes lacklustre T20 return
PLAYER
SHUBMAN GILL
SLOT
1ST INNS OF MATCH
2ND INNS OF MATCH
3RD INNS OF MATCH
4TH INNS OF MATCH
TOSS
TEAM BATS FIRST
TEAM BOWLS FIRST
NUMBER
AT NO.1
AT NO.2
AT NO. 3
INNS NO HS 100s 50s
INNS NO HS
INNS NO HS
INNS NO HS 100s 50s 100s 50s 100s 50s
His (Gill) performances, not just here, but when he started his international career, have been so good that everybody’s expectations were high. When that happens, people start questioning when you get a couple of low scores...
Both the hundreds in Chittagong as well as Visakhapatnam had come in the third innings. If those still don’t seem arduous enough, then the fifty against England in 2021 on a fifth day Chennai pitch must have been a lot more challenging. Gabba, too, can raise its hand here in favour of Gill purely because of the circumstances and momentousness of that chase.
Even with those two innings, boundaries made up half the charm. The premise at Ranchi—half the side gone for 120— was such that it mandated dogged survival instinct, putting a prize on the wicket and just tiring out the bowlers. Gill ticked that box emphatically.
Overall too, barring Yashasvi Jaiswal, no one from either side has come even close to the 610 balls Gill has faced in this series so far. Notable was his technique; the high elbow, the still head and a very nimble footwork for drives and a solid forward defence. “It’s one of those things I’ve practiced a lot, step out and play for the singles or defend,” said Gill after the match.
Stepping out
AVERAGE
“Because generally when you’re stepping out you’re always looking for the big shot, but I think if you can step out and you have this game where you can step out and defend or look for the single I think it really helps on wickets like these.”
But Gill’s innings should also be lauded in its entirety, in particular the modes of play it encompassed. A boundary hadn’t come in more than 30
RUNS overs but he wasn’t impatient. Chucking the more adventurous shots to stick to only a defensive block and nudging the ball through the gaps requires a level of buy-in to the old way of batting not many are capable of.
“This would probably go down as my only innings where I didn’t hit a boundary, like a four, after scoring a fifty,” Gill said.
“But you have to see the situation and you have to play the situation sometimes, and I think the way their bowlers were bowling, they were bowling really good lines, and they had also been protecting their boundaries pretty well, so it was important for us to just keep playing the game and not let the bowlers bowl too many maidens, because then on a wicket like this you are waiting for a magical ball to happen to you, so that was the plan. Keep taking the singles, and as soon as they give us anything loose, try to pounce on that.”
Ultimately, it was a multipurpose innings — dousing the probability of an implosion, then safely navigating through choppy waters and giving the final charge only when the target was within handshaking distance. In the context of the situation, it was the type of innings that can only put Gill in better stead for the rest of his career.
Time will be required, by him and by us, to truly appreciate the magnitude of what Gill has achieved. This was no hundred, but just like Gabba’s 91, this too shall find its place on a different honours board.
Nine weeks after being released from the Indian Test squad in South Africa for ‘personal reasons’, Ishan Kishan returned to action at the nondescript university ground adjoining the D Y Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday, turning up for his employers RBI at the D Y Patil T20 Cup – a timely preparatory competition for the IPL that begins on March 22. Coming out to bat wearing his India helmet after keeping wickets for 20 overs, the lefthander wasn’t at his fluent best – he played-and-missed a few, sent one off-spinners’ delivery over the boundary, before holing out to mid-off on 19 (11b).
From the time a BCCI media release made it known last December, that Kishan wanted a personal break, there has been much conjecture over his absence. After leaving South African shores, Kishan enjoyed his Christmas holiday with his brother and friends in Dubai, which didn’t go down well with the BCCI. The team management and the selectors had expected Kishan to turn up for his state team Jharkhand in the Ranji trophy once he had recovered. Instead, the 25-year-old chose to go to Baroda, where he underwent fitness drills and practiced with his IPL captain Hardik Pandya.
People close to Kishan say that he was frustrated by the lenght of time he spent on the bench (across formats) through 2023 despite his ODI double ton in late 2022.
Things blew up when Kishan was benched in the December T20Is in South Africa and powerhitter Jitesh Sharma was preferred. The message from the team management was clear; they were searching for a lower-order hardhitter and Kishan, a top-order batter wasn’t in the scheme of things for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
In the same tour, KL Rahul was tipped to drop down in the middleorder and play as wicket-keeper in the Test series. This, despite Kishan having made a sound Test debut in the previous series in West Indies. A BCCI official says, the decision was taken after Kishan was reluctant to stay on for the tour. Those close to Kishan say, the decision had already been made. One way or the other, the Kishan saga has opened a can of worms and gave rise to the narrative of players prioritising IPL over Test cricket.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote to contracted players and those on the targeted list, earlier in the month that, ‘performance in domestic tournaments is the only yardstick for selection, and nonparticipation could lead to severe implications.’
Although Shah told reporters, it wasn’t intended for any player in particular, the message was clear. Indian captain Rohit Sharma drove the message home after the Ranchi Test match. “We will give opportunities to only those who are hungry for Test cricket. There’s no point in playing those who don’t have the hunger,” he said.