Shubman Gill Reveals Why He Would Never Take The Strike In Test Cricket Again

Shubman Gill will be the one who will have many eyes on him when India will take on New Zealand in the World Test Championship final in Southampton. The youngster has already impressed many with his brilliant batting display in Australia and now as he is expected to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma, he needs to come up with much better performance.

The right-handed opening batter has so far played seven Tests and three One-Day Internationals (ODIs), scoring 378 and 49 runs, respectively. He also has three half-centuries in the longest format of the game to his name, with 91 being his highest score – which came against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21.

All eyes would be on the 21-year-old again as he will take on the challenge of playing in English conditions with Dukes ball against a quality attack that consists of world-class bowlers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

Ahead of the mega event, Gill was interviewed by The Grade Cricketer Show where he talked about his arrival in Test cricket, heroics in Australia, and the famous episode when he took the strike in a match and never repeated it.

Here it is to be noted that Gill has faced the first ball only once in his Test career, and the results weren’t in his favor. It was the fourth Test against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad earlier this year, when Gill decided to face the first ball against the highest wicket-taker of England, James Anderson. The Indian opener could only face three balls before the veteran English pacer outdid him for a duck.

Recalling his dismissal, the young opener stated that Rohit Sharma had allowed him to start the innings at the non-striker’s end in the previous games. However, during the Ahmedabad Test, Gill himself decided to take the strike and regretted the decision later.

“I don’t know why I said it to him that I’ll take the strike in this one. I don’t know why I said it again. Obviously, that didn’t work out for me as I got out for a duck in the third or the fourth ball for a duck but that won’t be happening again,” Gill said on The Grade Cricketer Show.