“Might find it hard” – KL Rahul makes bombshell statement on Shubman Gill amid poor Test run

Indian batter KL Rahul opened up about the poor form of young Shubman Gill in Test cricket. He backed the right-hander to get better and said that the Punjab batter was already thinking about his game plan for the second Test.

Shubman Gill’s torrid run in Test cricket continues as he bagged failure in the first innings of the ongoing Test against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He came to bat in the last session of Day 1 after skipper Rohit Sharma got out.

Shubman Gill looked under pressure right from the start but did well to save his wicket in the last one hour of the third session. He defended solidly but couldn’t score runs freely. It was expected that the batter would then unleash himself in the morning session of Day 2.

However, it wasn’t the case as Shubman Gill got out in the first session of the Day 2. The batter got out for just 23 runs off 66 balls as he played false shots. He didn’t look in good rhythm right from the start as he was stuck in the crease.

It was another poor run for the batter in Test cricket. Shubman Gill hasn’t scored a half-century in a Test since smashing a ton against Australia in Ahmedabad earlier this year. His average has dropped to around 28 and his place in the team has come under scanner.

KL Rahul, who scored vital 86 runs, believes that Shubman Gill batted well in session 3 of Day 1 as the need of the hour was to defend. He pointed out the mindset of the young batter, saying that sometimes it gets hard to break free. He added that Gill was just one shot away from breaking the shackles. Speaking to Jio Cinema, he explained:

“When it comes to Shubman, I think he walked in yesterday in a situation where he had to defend his way to the end of the day’s play. Sometimes when you get into a mindset like that, you might find it hard to break free. And I could sense even today that he wanted one shot just to break the shackles and just to make him feel good.”

He is a top-class cricketer – KL Rahul on Shubman Gill

KL Rahul further hailed Shubman Gill as a top-class cricketer and pointed out that the batter plays spin well. He feels that the youngster needs to bring his white-ball class to the Test cricket.

KL Rahul added that the lean phase comes for every batter but he’s sure that Gill is already thinking about what he will do in his next innings. He added:

“Like I said, he will get better. He is a top class cricketer. He does play spin really, really well. We’ve seen that in whiteball cricket. It’s about time that, he learnt from it.

“I mean, you know, I’m sure he didn’t want to get himself into a situation where he had to go over the top or had to had to play a shot just to break free. But yeah, that happens to all batters. And I’m sure he’s already there thinking about what he’ll do in the next one.”

KL Rahul’s solid innings helped India take a first-innings lead. After his wicket, Ravindra Jadeja (81*) played a decent knock and helped the team to extend the lead to 175 runs.