Image Credit- BCCI
In the Visakhapatnam Test match against England,
Shubman Gill scored his third century to snap out of a run of bad form. Only
once in the previous 12 innings has he scored more than 35 runs before this one
(104 off 147 balls). The burden was on the No. 3 batsman today when he started
his innings with a score of 29 for 1 and then fell to 30 for 2, knowing that
Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja will return as first-choice options
at some point, even if not in this series.
“It was very important and very satisfying for me
to be able to score runs at No. 3,” Gill said in the press conference.
“And it felt pretty good, especially with the situation. We lost Yashasvi
and Rohit [Sharma] bhai – they’ve been giving us really good starts at the top
of the order. I think it was important for us to get a big lead and to be able
to get as many runs as possible.”
“It’s very important to stay true to who you are
and how you’ve got runs. Sometimes when you’re trying to be over-defensive or
over-aggressive and try to be something that you’re not, then you are
prolonging those innings and you’re sometimes not able to get out of that
shell. And that was my thinking going into this Test match. I’m going to play
the way I’ve played before.”
Usually, a Gill century comes with a bow upon reaching
the landmark but this time there wasn’t one. “Obviously it felt good. I
just thought the job was not done for the team. That’s’ why it was a little
minute celebration.”
Gill thanked the coaching staff for backing him and
said that India were leading the game 70-30 going into the fourth day.
“The support I’ve got from Rohit bhai and Rahul
[Dravid] sir and especially Vikram [Rathore] sir as well. They are the ones who
have always kept me motivated and always believed in me. And when you have guys
like that motivating you, you are always going to be on top of your game.”