Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar believes captain Shubman Gill did a masterful job of replacing Virat Kohli at Number 4 in the five-Test series in England. Virat Kohli retired from Tests a month before the England tour while the IPL was ongoing which left a massive void and hole to fill the crucial Number 4 spot in the batting order.
However, while batting at 4 for the first time in his career, Shubman Gill finished as the leading run-scorer with 754 runs at an average of over 75 which included four centuries. He also broke several batting records, including becoming India’s highest scorer in an innings in England with his 269 in the second Test at Edgbaston.
Meanwhile, a week before Kohli walked away from the red-ball game, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Tests. Yet, India were unaffected, as the opening pair of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided the team with solid starts throughout the series barring a few occasions here and there.
Sanjay Bangar opines on Gill’s ability to cope with the retirements
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo on how India and Gill coped with these retirements, Bangar said, “Who were they replacing? If you look at the Number 4 spot, Shubman Gill has done as good as a Virat Kohli could have done. And who has taken Rohit Sharma’s place? It is Yashasvi Jaiswal and he has also had an equally good series to show for. Because Gill and Jaiswal got the runs, the Indian team never missed the services of Rohit and Virat.”
Bangar also felt India may continue to field questionable line-ups with batting depth in mind until they get a reliable fast bowling all-rounder. He said, “The Indian management has prioritised that over the last three to four seasons. But you want to have a fast bowling all-rounder and if India does get that, then the combination will settle itself. Till the time India gets a proper fast bowling all-rounder, you’ll always have these question marks.”
Team India never played Kuldeep Yadav the attacking wrist spinner in the England series preferring Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar primarily playing as the spin bowling options due to their better batting abilities than Yadav.
Sanjay Bangar’s Massive Praise of KL Rahul
Sanjay Bangar also praised seasoned campaigner and opener KL Rahul for his consistent batting and for being the much-needed support to new captain Shubman Gill in the England series. The right-hander finished with 532 runs at an average of over 53 in five matches, including two hundreds and two fifties.
Speaking on the same show, Bangar said, “He certainly looked the part and added to whatever he has done as a batsman by consuming a lot of balls and being very consistent throughout, the kind of slip catching we could see from him and being an able ally to Shubman Gill at times. You could also see a side of KL Rahul which wasn’t seen earlier, where he was having a lot of chats with the opponents and the umpires at times.”
He added: “In a sense, he was looking at the entire team as an elder statesman. He seemed to be at ease with himself. It just felt like he had so much more time. Without KL Rahul, the Indian middle order would have been exposed way too early. It doesn’t happen often that opening batters from the sub-continent go to England and survive a five-Test series unchanged. The batting numbers that followed were primarily because of the foundation both these openers laid.”
Rahul’s batting and his slip catching played a key role in India coming away with a 2-2 draw in England. Rahul and Gill will want to keep up this consistency going in future Test matches as well as they are the pillars of batting for India. The whole batting revolves around Rahul and Gill and the next challenge for them will be West Indies in October.
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