According to Sachin Tendulkar, India skipper Shubman Gill was incredibly constant in his thinking, but more significantly, he respected the “good balls” to score a record-breaking 754 runs against England.
Although Gill’s 754 runs fell short of Sunil Gavaskar’s 774-run record for the most runs scored by an Indian in a bilateral Test series, he did surpass Gavaskar’s 732-run mark for the most runs scored by an India captain in a series.
Gill is currently ranked second in the all-time captains’ chart, behind Sir Don Bradman (810 runs).
“Shubman batted brilliantly throughout the series. He looked calm, composed and organised,” Tendulkar said in a series of videos posted on Reddit.
“When it comes to quality batting, you got to have a clear head and a game plan — how you’re going to build your innings — and he was extremely consistent as far as his thought process was concerned, because it reflects on your footwork,” Tendulkar remarked.
“If you’re not clear in your head, your body doesn’t respond accordingly. His body was responding brilliantly. He looked so much in control. He had so much time to play the ball and there was precision to his footwork,” he added.
Gill’s ability to respond to “good balls” was chosen by Tendulkar as a noteworthy aspect.
“The most important thing that I noticed was the respect to a good ball, where the tendency sometimes is to push the ball on the front foot, even if it’s not close to your foot,” he said.
“He was able to defend there and consistently defend well on front foot. If you look at how he batted throughout the series, I felt that his front foot defence was solid. His ability to leave the ball was very good. Overall, shot selection was very, very good and precise,” Tendulkar said.
Tendulkar called Mohammed Siraj “unbelievable” for bowling India to a series-tying victory at The Oval in the last Test and taking 23 wickets while playing in all five games.
“Unbelievable. Superb approach. I like his attitude,” Tendulkar said.
“I love the spring in his legs. If you don’t look at the scoreboard and you just look at his body language, you will not be able to make out whether it is on a day Siraj has taken five wickets or has got nothing – the body language is the same.” “(Siraj’s) attitude and approach are the same. If a fast bowler is constantly in your face like that, no batsman likes that,” Tendulkar said.
The Little Master claimed that although India did not seem disciplined in the evening of Day Four, when England had a solid partnership between Joe Root and Harry Brook, they did well the following day.
“The team played like a solid unit. From the time they walked out on the field (on Day Five), everyone looked charged up and focused. As we say, planning-wise, there was a definite plan. There was much more discipline in their approach, especially the bowlers,” he said.
“If you notice, on the fourth (day) evening, I think they were lacking a bit of discipline and that invariably happens when there is a partnership (and) two batters are playing an attacking game,” he added.
Although Rishabh Pant has perfected his game, Tendulkar stated that one should not always evaluate him based solely on his shots.
“He has developed a good habit of playing impactful innings. He’s figured out his game. There were occasions where people felt that he didn’t need to play a certain shot, but someone like Rishabh should be left alone,” Tendulkar said.
“I’m not saying that (he should attack) when you’re looking to save a match — then obviously he has to have a different approach. But if it’s the first innings, or the second innings, or the third innings, or even for that matter, if he’s playing in the fourth innings, in which situation (allows), that he’s figured out.” Tendulkar said senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been an “underrated player”.
“I would say, an underrated player. The way he contributes, he doesn’t get that much credit. As a batter, he has been remarkable in this series. Not only in this series, but if you notice many times, he’ll come and he’ll rattle the opposition,” he said.
The legendary batsman was particularly impressed by KL Rahul’s ability to thwart the bowlers and by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s “mindset”.
“He (Jaiswal) has impressed me because of his mindset. Because he is a fearless batsman and he knows when to accelerate, when to play and (take a) run, (and) when to go to the non-striker end. I think a batter needs to understand that,” he said.
Tendulkar continued, “It’s possibly one of the best that I’ve seen him (Rahul) bat. The way he was defending, close to the body and the way he was leaving the ball, I thought he was completely organised.” “He knew where his off stump was and where to leave the ball. I almost got this feeling that sometimes he was able to frustrate the bowler,” the batting legend concluded.
