ENG vs IND: "Where is Shubman Gill heading?"- Sanjay Manjrekar rips apart India captain for forcing himself into aggressive version at the Lord's

Shubman Gill is the leading run-getter in the ongoing IND vs ENG series.

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has lashed out at the Indian Cricket Team skipper Shubman Gill for being uncharacteristically fiery and letting his batting get affected during the third test against the England Cricket Team. 

He compared him with Virat Kohli, saying that the former captain used to become a better batter when things were tense. Sanjay Manjrekar was quick to quip that the altercations with England players didn’t do any good to Shubman Gill’s batting in the Lord’s test. 

Gill was involved in quite a few verbal spats with various England players during the third test. Particularly, in the second innings, he was right at the face of the batters, giving them a harsh mouthful. 

However, when he came to bat, he got the taste of his own medicine as all the England players went hard at him. This surely affected his batting as he looked very tentative and couldn’t score big when it mattered the most.

“What disappointed me with Shubman Gill and that is why I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading” – Sanjay Manjrekar

On that Sanjay Manjrekar said:

“The thing with Virat Kohli was that he would get even more fired up and become a better batter [if things got nasty],” Manjrekar said. “What disappointed me with Shubman Gill and that is why I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading? Because that seemed like it didn’t have the right effect on Shubman Gill the batter.” he told ESPNCricinfo.

He also highlighted how it was a completely different experience for Gill, which took a toll on his batting. He added:

“He came out looking very tentative and, you know, these days we are privy to the stump mic and we could hear the things being said and there were some personal attacks made. This could be a new experience for Shubman Gill because these days, as you can see, you know, with Indian players, there’s mostly a friendly reception from a lot of foreign teams. So this was new territory. And he looked tentative and wasn’t up for it.” 

If Shubman Gill had that kind of a fiery side to him, we would have seen it a little earlier – Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Gill forced himself into that aggressive version, which doesn’t come naturally to him, because he thinks he is a captain. While correlating him with Kohli, he said: 

“If Shubman Gill had that kind of a fiery side to him, we would have seen it a little earlier. You don’t have to show it when you’re the captain. Or did he show it because he’s got this confidence now that he’s won a Test match and he’s got so many runs? Because with Virat Kohli, you could see that he was ready for a scrap.“

“He was always waiting to get in the thick of things. Even when he wasn’t a captain, you could see him coming in there. So that was a trait that we’d seen even before he was captain. With Shubman Gill, I’ve never seen it before.”  

Shubman Gill will be next seen in action when India take on England in the fourth test, starting on July 23rd at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester.

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