SHUBMAN GILL has the full backing of the India Test team as he adjusts to his move from the top of the order to the number three slot, batting coach Vikram Rathour said ahead of the second match against West Indies in Port of Spain from Thursday (20).
Gill has scored both of his Test hundreds and four half-centuries while opening the innings, usually alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
Before the start of the two-Test series in West Indies, Gill asked to bat at three, a position long held by veteran Cheteshwar Pujara before he was dropped from the side.
Gill made just six runs in his new role in Roseau, where India batted only once and cantered to victory inside three days at Windsor Park.
“We won’t judge on one innings, he has a lot of time and surely he will do well for us in this position,” Rathour said last Sunday (16). “Because he has the game for that. He can take his time and play, and he is a stroke-player as well who can move the game forward.
“Having such a batter at number three is extremely advantageous,” he said.
Former Test player Rathour said Gill was the “future” of Indian cricket, highlighting the righthander’s prolific run of form which includes a double century in one-day internationals and hundreds in each format of the international game.
“Sometimes it might take a bit of time in a particular format, and he is taking that time,” he said.
“The potential that he has, I have no doubt that he is the future of the Indian team in batting. He will play for the Indian team for a long time, in all three formats.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who took Gill’s place at the top of the order, smashed 171 on his Test debut in Roseau to be named Player of the Match. “This experience has been a special moment,” said the 21-year-old left-hander.
“I used to think about playing for my country when I was young. It is an emotional moment for me but this just the start.”
Ravichandran Ashwin’s sevenwicket second innings demolition job underlined his dominance of inept West Indies who crashed to defeat by an innings and 141 runs. It was India’s largest margin of victory in a Test match in the West Indies and maintained an unbeaten run spanning more than 21 years.
