File photo of Shubman Gill© AFP
Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Shubman Gill needs to work on his defense in order to become a massive run-scorer in Tests. Gill has come under a lot of criticism lately for his poor run of form in the longest format of the sport and Manjrekar believes that his defense has been a cause for worry. Gill got a good start on Day 1 of the second Test match against England but once again, he failed to capitalise as he was dismissed by James Anderson after scoring 34 off 46 deliveries.
“Shubman Gill, how does he react to his failures? He needs to do something about his defense if he wants to be the prolific run-getter in the team at the Test level, both against swing and spin,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
“That’s a cause for worry and that’s something that won’t be solved easily. These are uncontrollable for the team management, and the selectors,” he further added.
The other batter who has struggled to score runs in Tests lately has been Shreyas Iyer. Although he had a brilliant Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign, his Test batting has left a lot to be desired. Manjrekar said that he needs to find a safer approach while maintaining his aggressive mindset in order to be successful.
“Shreyas Iyer seems to want to play the modern way, which is about hitting the way out of trouble, so be it. We saw the English batters take a safer approach to be aggressive,” Manjrekar said.
“He’s got to find one because just lofting balls down the pitch or towards mid-wicket is a lot more risky than playing the reverse sweeps and the switch reverse sweeps,” he concluded.
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