Shubman Gill might have scored a half-century in the first innings of the ongoing Kanpur test match against New Zealand, but Aakash Chopra doesn’t think that he gives the impression of a proper test match opener because of the way he plays.
According to Aakash, who himself has opened the batting for India in test match cricket in the past, Shubman Gill often looks to play inside the line of the ball and in the process of doing so, he is vulnerable with both his outside and inside edges, which is never a good thing while facing the quality fast bowlers with the red ball.
Aakash is, however, very impressed with the way Gill plays spin because not only he is a good user of his feet while moving both front and back, he also makes sure that he is mostly playing the ball with the full face of the bat, rather than bat and pad close together, which at times can result in short leg catches on turning pitches.
Aakash Chopra wants India to play Shubman Gill in the middle order
Shubman Gill, in his brief test career so far, has opened the batting in every single test match he has played. Even during the Gabba test match on the Australia tour, when India had picked both Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma, they had slotted Agarwal down the order at no. 5 and had opened the batting with Rohit and Gill.
But, Aakash Chopra is of the view that India can maximise the potential of Gill if they play him in the middle order, rather than at the top of the order where he has to face the moving ball all the time.
“He (Shubman Gill) doesn’t look like a Test opener to me. In my opinion, he is a middle-order batter, he has been made to open,” Aakash Chopra said while analysing Gill’s batting on Star Sports.
Gill was dismissed by an incoming delivery once again today by Kyle Jamieson, exactly in the same manner as he was dismissed by James Anderson in the Chennai test match earlier this year.
