Young Indian opener Shubman Gill was seen hitting the nets at Team India’s practice session. He is most likely to replace Prithvi Shaw in the MCG Boxing-Day test starting from Saturday. Gill has been backed by several former cricketers for test debut since Shaw’s failure in the first Test. He scored a duck and 4 in the two innings of the Adelaide test. India are expected to make a number of changes to their playing XI in an effort to come back to winning ways in Melbourne.
The BCCI uploaded a video of Gill’s practice session on its official Twitter handle. He was seen hitting the ball well and also timing it sweetly. The selectors might look to slot him in the openers’ role alongside Mayank Agarwal. He might also bat at number five with KL Rahul opening the innings. Rahul will join the playing XI as Virat Kohli’s replacement.
Shubman Gill Hit It Crisply At Team India Nets
Also Read: Ajit Agarkar Suggests Shubman Gill’s Batting Position In Test Cricket
Nice and clean from @RealShubmanGill 😎 #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/oHGQsJhDHh
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 23, 2020
Shubman Gill was picked into the side for the test squad following his good IPL season with Kolkata Knight Riders. He ended as the top-scorer for the side with 440 runs from 14 matches.
According to cricket experts, Gill has a better technique than Prithvi Shaw. The weakness in Shaw’s technique was brutally exposed by the Australian bowlers in the first test. He was dismissed in an identical fashion in the two innings of the first test.
Shubman Gill was expected to play in the first test as well. However, when he was not included in the XI, the Indian team management was hugely criticised on Twitter. Gill was ignored despite scoring 65 & 43 in the two innings of the second warm-up game.
Also Read: Twitter Slams BCCI For Not Picking Shubman Gill in First Test
India will be without their skipper Virat Kohli for the final three tests. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the team in the three matches. He will also probably bat at number four in the remaining games.
