Shubman Gill, who backed India’s “very hungry” Test team to begin their home series against South Africa with determination, laughed off his poor tossing luck and suggested he might have to wait till the World Test Championship final for the coin to eventually turn in his favor.
Since assuming the position, the Test captain has only won one toss in eight games, and that came in the second Test in Delhi against the West Indies. The bad luck persisted on Friday when India began their first Test match against South Africa. Instead of being frustrated, Gill chose to see the funny side of things.
“I think the only toss that I’m going to win is hopefully in the WTC finals,” Gill said after the toss.
Gill was optimistic about India’s plans for the first day despite the losing the toss. He maintained that if the visitors’ fast-bowling unit hit the correct lengths early on, the pitch showed promise. “Looks like a good surface. Hopefully, we’ll get some movement early, hopefully we’re able to extract that,” he said.
Gill believed that the Test surface should hold true for the first two days before progressively deteriorating. “Looks like a good surface. It’s going to be a good surface for the first day or a couple of days. And then, hopefully, we’ll get some turn as the game goes on,” he added, suggesting a fair game between the bat and the ball.
Gill also praised the atmosphere in the dressing room, describing the current team as “very hungry” and motivated to leave their imprint in what he described as an important two-Test series. “The dressing room is pretty amazing. This Test bunch is very hungry and is always determined to perform every time we come out. These two Test matches for us are very crucial and we’re as hungry as ever,” he said.
For the first match of the series, India also welcomed two significant returns: Axar Patel, who replaced Sai Sudharsan and Rishabh Pant, who replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy.
“Rishabh comes back in place of Reddy since we last played. And Axar is also back in the side,” Gill confirmed.
