The most pertinent query once Virat Kohli decided to quit Test cricket was who would replace him at the No.4 position.
It is the most crucial spot often manned by the best batter in the side. Imagine Denis Compton, Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Javed Miandad, Ross Taylor, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith, Kohli and you realise the context.
The choice was between Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, the two most experienced in the current squad. Both have batted at various positions in their careers and perhaps have the skill and acumen to build an innings. While Rahul had achieved enormous success overseas, Gill’s record hadn’t been encouraging in England — an average of 14.66, with no scores above 28 in three previous Tests.
The odds, however, pointed to Gill since Rahul had comfortably settled into his role as an opener with Yashasvi Jaiswal. But can Gill make a difference in England where the lateral movement could often result in the No. 4 coming in to bat with the ball relatively new?
The burden of expectations was sure to weigh on him when he walked out at Leeds. But he showed no signs of discomfort and batted like a man possessed, scoring 147 in his debut innings as captain.
The Birmingham Test will perhaps go down as the defining moment in Gill’s captaincy. He became only the second Indian to smash a double century and century in a Test and aggregated 430.
Ravindra Jadeja, who spent the most time with Gill at the wicket in the first innings, summed it up well. “When he has batted, it hasn’t seemed he is the captain or he has any extra responsibility. ...unluckily, that ball went to hand because it never looked like he would even get out.”
Gill started this series at a Test average of under 36. He openly said that his goal was to be the best in the series and his average has already zoomed to 42.72.
He played just three Tests in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India’s last series in Australia, with only 93 runs in five innings. There were calls to drop him in the final Test but he survived because Rohit Sharma decided to pull himself out.
The way he has adjusted to the circumstances and worked on his technique and defence is peerless. The incoming ball has troubled him a lot in the past but this time he has sorted out the technical flaws to avert any crisis. The mental adjustment has also been important since Gill has also had to deal with demons of
the past.
For decades, the No.4 spot has belonged to Tendulkar with Kohli stepping into his shoes. Tendulkar always had the cushion of Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharuddin or Kapil Dev to fall back on for advice.
Gill never enjoyed such a cushion once he assumed the captain’s hat, since he was leading a relatively young side where Jadeja is the most experienced. Matching Kohli’s achievements were always bound to weigh him down but Gill has shown the charisma to survive such workload.
The numbers aside, he rarely played a false stroke during the 752 minutes at the crease at Edgbaston. “We threw everything at him,” England’s assistant coach Jeetan Patel said.
Gill’s batting has been flawless along with the hunger and temperament on display. His inspirational innings rubbed in on the likes of Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj to produce match-winning spells.
His determination and temperament to go big slowly and steadily, broke the backbone of the English attack. They they were so spent by the time it all ended that Ben Stokes would be forced to rejig his attack to survive the ignominy of a second consecutive defeat at Lord’s.
The pressure on Gill had been enormous given that India lost the opening match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy after having scored close to 500 in Leeds. He faced all-round vitriol, former captains included, for resting Jasprit Bumrah and not playing Kuldeep Yadav in the second game. He knew he would have hell to pay if the result hadn’t gone in their favour.
Still, he showed no signs of being cowed down by the responsibilities and forced the Bazballers to rethink their strategy and plans.
It’s still early days, but Gill has shown the promise to emerge as the messiah who could give the No.4 position a new identity.
It had been a question of if not now, when? Gill has certainly delivered on that count.
