‘Don’t forget… Pujara is waiting’: Shastri warns as Shubman Gill throws start | Cricket

What a contrasting 12-month period it has been for Shubman Gill. This time last year, he was on a roll… unstoppable. He was peeling off centuries for fun in ODIs and T20Is against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and registered his maiden Test ton against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. His raging-hot form had earned him the nickname ‘Prince’, with many declaring him as the heir to Virat Kohli. Clearly, those daring predictions did not age well.

Gill is struggling, and it’s not just now. He has been for a while. And his innings of 34 against England in the 2nd Test at Visakhapatnam suggests there’s something off in his batting. Gill is putting bat to ball well, getting the timing right but is throwing away starts, such as today on Day 1. He was batting well – it didn’t matter if he got a couple of thick edges – but was motoring along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. But once again, after getting off to a promising start, edged his nemesis James Anderson to Ben Foakes.

Gill hasn’t been the same batter since his recovery from dengue during the World Cup. The bog scores have reduced significantly and the low ones have climbed up exponentially. Although these are early days, the team management’s decision to push Gill down to No. 3 seems to be a work in progress, especially given whom he’s replacing at that position, the man with a knack of playing long innings, Cheteshwar Pujara.

With the current Indian Playing XI resembling a young look, former coach Ravi Shastri sent out a timely reminder to the youngsters trying to cement a place in India’s starting line-up. While Shastri did not single out anyone, his Pujara reference could be directed to Gill. Jaiswal has responded well with a century and Rajat Patidar is making his debut in the absence of the injured KL Rahul, so no prizes for guessing whom Shastri could be referring to.

“It’s a fresh side, a young side. These youngsters have to prove themselves. Don’t forget, Pujara is waiting. He is grinding it out at the Ranji Trophy and is always in the radar,” Shastri said while on commentary.

Pujara on fire for Saurashtra

Pujara, who last played a Test for India in the final of the World Test Championship, has been milking runs for Saurashtra, scoring a double century against Jharkhand, followed by scores of 49, 43, 43, 66 and 91 in subsequent innings.

While the management has made it clear that preferring youngsters is the way to go, the experience of Pujara, more so in home conditions, can never be counted out, and Shastri reiterated it further by explaining the chinks in Gill’s batting, whose recent scores in Tests read 2, 26, 36, 10, 23 and 0 at No. 3 since the start of the South Africa series.

“It’s a Test match; you’ve got to stay out there. Otherwise, you’ll get into all sorts of problems. You’re going with those hard hands, reaching out at the ball. Especially with someone of Anderson’s class,” added Shastri.