IND vs ENG: “Shubman Gill Has Finally Ended The Drought”- Aakash Chopra Appreciates The Youngster’s Knock

Shubman Gill has been praised by Aakash Chopra for ending both his own century-long drought and India’s No. 3 position at home. On Sunday, February 4th, in Visakhapatnam, India posted 255 in their second innings on Day 3 of the second Test match against England. Shubman Gill smashed 104 runs off 147 deliveries. With 332 runs still needed to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, Ben Stokes and co. finished the day at 67/1.

Shubman Gill hadn’t reached a half-century in a Test match before Sunday since his 128-run innings against Australia in Ahmedabad in March 2023. In the first Test against England, he made 23 runs in two innings, and in the first innings of the current second Test, he scored 34 runs.

It seemed like Shubman Gill did a job we had been waiting for many years – Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra mentioned that it didn’t take many years for him to score his first century at number three. Chopra complimented Gill on his eagerly awaited century in a video that he posted on his YouTube account. He explained at 0:01:

“It seemed like Shubman Gill did a job we had been waiting for many years. It did not take many years but his first century at No. 3 has come. The fact also is that it is the first century by a No. 3 Indian batter in India for the last six to seven years. So he has finally ended the drought,”

Chopra went on to say that the noise was getting louder with each inning that went by. It was crucial runs for him in this situation. The young player was under tremendous pressure, according to the former India opener, because of his recent poor performance. At 4:10, he stated:

“Shubman Gill was the performer of the day. He hadn’t scored runs since he started coming at No. 3. It was 12 innings since he scored his last century. The pressure was mounting and questions were being asked. The noise was increasing with every passing innings. It was important for him to score runs here,”

He started looking for runs and his body positioning was right- Aakash Chopra on Shubman Gill’s positive mindset

The upbeat attitude of Shubman Gill was especially appreciated by Aakash Chopra. In addition to the previously listed reprieves, Gill was declared LBW while on four. At the suggestion of his partner Shreyas Iyer, he reviewed the incident and was lucky to see that he had inside-edged the ball onto his pads. At 4:45, he observed;

“The thing I liked the most was that he came with a slightly proactive mindset. The feet were moving slightly better. You need a little luck when you are going through bad times and luck favored him. If the umpire had given him out off James Anderson’s bowling, he would have remained out as it was umpire’s call,”

“He got an edge and the slip fielder was standing slightly wide. So there were one or two slight moments but other than that, he used his feet well, he started looking for runs and his body positioning was right. When you are short of something, you realize that it is very dear to you,”