Gill reveals “Hard” conversation with Gambhir before her 100 in Edgbaston

India cricket team captain Shubman Gill revealed that he had one particular difficult phase during his 269-run knock in ENG vs IND 2nd Test. The Punjab batter registered his maiden double hundred in Test cricket on Day 2 and went to become India’s highest run-scorer in the 1st innings at Edgbaston. Gill’s monumental knock powered India to a mammoth 587-run total in their 1st innings in Birmingham.

Gill’s conversation with Gambhir revealed

Speaking on JioHotstar, Gill reflected on how he tweaked his technique to adapt to the conditions at Edgbaston when he came out to bat on Day 1. He revealed that he had a conversation with head coach Gautam Gambhir on how it was tough for him to score boundaries. The Indian Test captain said that his goal was to stay till the end as he had learnt his lesson from the Headingley Test that lower-order collapses were bound to happen in such conditions.

“I felt the ball had gone soft, and my shots were going straight to the fielders. I was around 35–40 off 100 balls and spoke to Gautam bhai about struggling to find boundaries. The runs weren’t coming as freely as they did in the first Test, and I knew if I was set, I had to stay till the end and finish the job. The learnings from the last match were clear—lower-order collapses can happen quickly in these conditions, so my focus was to bat deep and cut down on mistakes,” Gill said.

“Went back to my basics”

“I had worked on my initial movement and setup during the IPL and in the lead-up to this series. Earlier, I’d often get out around the 30s and 40s—perhaps due to missing my peak concentration window. This time, I went back to the basics—how I used to bat as a kid. I focused on rhythm, stayed relaxed, and didn’t think about the score. The idea was to enjoy my batting and stay in the moment,” he added.