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Manjrekar: 'If Gill had a fiery side to him, we would have seen it earlier'

By being uncharacteristically fiery, Shubman Gill let his batting get affected at Lord's, feels Sanjay Manjrekar

ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Jul-2025 • 5 hrs ago
Was Shubman Gill's batting affected by his decision to have a go at England on the third day at Lord's? Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar seems to think so.
Gill thrust himself in Zak Crawley's face in response to what the Indians felt were delaying tactics on the part of the England batter. Some of the other India players followed their captain's lead and the series had its first flashpoint. England gave it all back when Gill came out to bat late on day four and he fell for 6.
Manjrekar, on ESPNcricinfo Match Day, highlighted this passage of play and invoked one of India's former captains to put things in perspective.
"The thing with Virat Kohli was that he would get even more fired up and become a better batter [if things got nasty]," Manjrekar said. "What disappointed me with Shubman Gill and that is why I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading? Because that seemed like it didn't have the right effect on Shubman Gill the batter.
"He came out looking very tentative and, you know, these days we are privy to the stump mic and we could hear the things being said and there were some personal attacks made. This could be a new experience for Shubman Gill because these days, as you can see, you know, with Indian players, there's mostly friendly reception from a lot of foreign teams. So this was new territory. And he looked tentative and wasn't up for it."
India lost the third Test and trail the series 1-2. Gill came into Lord's with 585 runs from the first two games. He had struck three centuries in four innings and turned one of them into a career-best 269. Conditions were rather more difficult for batting in the third Test than they had been through the rest of the series. He was facing a hard new ball in the second innings. Every other time, he had the benefit of starting out against an older, softer ball that wasn't doing much. The attention he invited upon himself added to all that and he fell cheaply.
"We saw it pan out in the way he batted," Manjrekar said. "Because these were deliveries, good deliveries, but he's negotiated beautifully through his marathon run as a batter through the series. And suddenly he was missing those balls. There was a review situation as well.
"Next ball, there was a leg before. Going through Shubman Gill's defence has been hard work. He has hardly missed a ball. The control percentage has been brilliant. And suddenly, in about nine deliveries [in the second innings], he's missed four. I have no doubt that there is a connection there.
"And just to extend on that point, if Shubman Gill had that kind of a fiery side to him, we would have seen it a little earlier. You don't have to show it when you're captain. Or did he show it because he's got this confidence now that he's won a Test match and he's got so many runs? Because with Virat Kohli, you could see that he was ready for a scrap. He was always waiting to get in the thick of things. Even when he wasn't a captain, you could see him coming in there. So that was a trait that we'd seen even before he was captain. With Shubman Gill, I've never seen it before."
Gill is still only 25 and this is his first Test series in charge of the India team. Manjrekar believes he has already "surpassed everyone's expectations" and can take his time deciding the kind of captain he wants to be.
"I think this break of eight days is perfect for him. There are a lot of good people around him. His father [who played a big part as he grew up pursuing a career in cricket], in fact, would know him, would know his child, whether he's a Virat Kohli, potential Virat Kohli or [MS] Dhoni or somewhere in between," Manjrekar said. "I'm guessing somewhere in between. So he's got to find his own way. But whatever way that is, it's got to be a way that will enhance his leadership qualities and make him a better batter."

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