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Gill was unable to capitalise on his start as India struggled to keep partnerships going in the first innings of the Adelaide Test.
Shubman Gill was unable to capitalise on his start. (Image: AP)
The former Australian pacer, Stuart Clark feels that India’s number three batter, Shubman Gill might have gotten caught up with slowing down the game after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal in the first ball of the pink ball Test against Australia on Friday.
Gill made his return to the Test side after missing the first game due to a fractured thumb. Despite the absence, he showed positive intent during the start of his innings smashing a couple of boundaries.
But when Gill was up against Scott Boland, he looked to flick the ball but misjudged the line and length of the delivery and was dismissed via lbw, ending his innings at 31 runs off 51 deliveries.
“I don’t know what he was doing. It’s hit the maker’s name at the bottom of the pad. You’ve missed a half-volley, Shubman. I don’t know why he wanted to refer to it. He must have thought he was outside the line, but the problem there, I think he got too caught up in trying to slow down the game,” Clark was quoted saying to ABC Radio.
“I think he distracted himself. In the middle of the over he wandered down (to talk to Rishabh Pant) and you could tell they were trying to slow the game down. And he just fractionally, I believe, lost concentration,” he added.
The pink ball proved to be a difficult challenge for the Indian batters as they were bundled out for 180 runs, and Mitchell Starc finished with a six-wicket haul.
But Clark reckons that the wicket will have enough to force a result and that the batters could struggle to score big runs as well.
“I think ‘frenzy’ is a good word. We’ve pretty much seen it all in the first session. It’s going to be certainly a Test match that moves at a great rate. There’s enough in this wicket and, with the atmospheric conditions, it looks like it’s going to be hard work for batting,” added Clark.
Jasprit Bumrah gave India the first wicket to get rid of Khawaja and will look to play out the rest of the day with an attacking intent, taking as many wickets as possible before stumps are called.
(with IANS Inputs)
