After his valiant hundred in the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka, Punjab captain Shubman Gill opened up about his lean run in Test cricket.
Punjab were staring at an innings defeat two days into the Ranji Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. After bowling them out for 55, Karnataka amassed 475 and had Punjab at 24-2 by stumps, though Gill was still there.
The innings defeat happened alright, but Gill finally returned to runs. Having made only four runs in the first innings, he played a lone hand for Punjab on the third day. By the time he was eighth out, on 187, he had made 102 – his 14th first-class hundred – with 14 fours and three sixes. He flung his bat away in frustration after being dismissed. Soon afterwards, Punjab collapsed to 213: barring Gill, no one reached 30 in any of their innings.
Gill's lean run in Test cricket
An injury had kept Gill out of the first Test on the Australia tour. After making 31 and 28 in the second and a solitary run in the third, he was dropped for the fourth. Recalled for the fifth, he made 20 and 13, finishing the series with 91 runs at 18.60.
Gill made 259 runs at 51.80 in his debut series, in Australia in 2020-21. Since then, however, he does not have a single score of even 40 outside Asia. Even including that 2020-21 tour of Australia, his record outside Asia reads 559 runs at 25.40. While he has been the incumbent ODI vice-captain, his Test record remains ordinary.
Also read: How a different trigger movement might be hampering Shubman Gill's Test returns
After his hundred against Karnataka, Gill spoke at lengths over his lean run in Test cricket: “Sometimes, I think with the red ball, in the matches that I play, I tend to get a very good 25-30 and, in those moments, I sometimes tend to put too much pressure on myself to be able to convert those. That is not the way that I have grown up playing my game.”
One can see Gill’s point. While he had reached twenty 34 times in 59 innings (more than half), he has reached fifty in only 12 of these.
“There is a certain zone that I am in, certain intent that I am in,” he added. “And sometimes I think I lose that because I put too much pressure on myself that I have to get a big run now that I am set. I think in those crucial moments, I sometimes lose my focus and concentration.”
Gill was happy about the Ranji Trophy hundred: “I think this innings was very satisfying for me, the way I played. The first, I think, in 130 balls, I scored 40-odd runs, and they were bowling well and there was some help in the wicket as well.
“I think any innings that we play at any level, it's very important to be able to get runs, get back in form and have that feel. When you are playing well, when you are in that zone, it’s important to stay in that zone as long as possible and that's what I was trying to do when I was batting there."
