‘Played like I used to in childhood’: Shubman Gill on Edgbaston 269, India captain says ‘stopped enjoying’ batting before England tour

In just his second Test match as India’s captain, Shubman Gill shattered numerous records with his highest Test score against England at Edgbaston on Thursday. The 25-year-old became the second youngest Indian captain to achieve a Test double century after Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and also the first Asian leader to score a double hundred in SENA nations.

Gill remembered the technical modifications he needed to implement to achieve success in the conditions after experiencing quiet performances on earlier tours. India’s recently appointed No. 4 also confessed that he lost the pleasure in batting during his mediocre performance in red-ball cricket before the tour. Gill scored 147 in his initial innings as captain last week at Headingley, becoming the fourth Indian to achieve centuries in their first two Tests as captain.

“I mainly worked on my initial movement and my setup. Before this, I felt my batting was going well. I was scoring 30-35-40 runs consistently in Test matches. But at some point, I was missing that peak concentration time. A lot of people say that when you focus too much, you sometimes miss your peak time.

“So, in this series, I tried to go back to my basics. I tried to bat like I used to in my childhood. I didn’t think about having reached 35-40 runs or about playing long innings. I just wanted to enjoy my batting.”

“Sometimes, when you aren’t scoring runs fluently, you stop enjoying your batting. You focus too much on the need to score runs. I felt I had lost that in my batting. I was so focused that I wasn’t enjoying my batting as much,” he said.

Gill’s double century marks the first by an Indian in an away Test since Virat Kohli in 2016, with the Punjab player also exceeding the former’s record for the highest score by an Indian Test captain. Despite appearing to be in perfect control, Gill mentioned that it was challenging to score consistently on the flat surface in Birmingham.

“When I went in to bat before lunch on the first day, at tea I was on around 35-40 runs off about 100 balls. I came out and spoke to GG Bhai. I told him, ‘I’m not getting runs freely, even though I have a lot of shots in my armoury.’ I also felt the ball was a bit soft,” Gill said.

“In the last match, I was scoring more fluently, but here it wasn’t coming as easily. Still, my mindset was that if the wicket is good and I am set, no matter how long I bat, I shouldn’t leave the match halfway.

“In the last match, I learnt that no matter how long you’ve been batting, under these conditions, there can be a collapse in the lower order at any time. So I tried to stay out there as long as I could. I wanted the bowler to get me out with a good ball and I shouldn’t make mistakes. That was my approach,” he said.

After recording a massive 587, India’s highest total in England in 18 years on the back of Gill’s record-breaking score, the visitors reduced Ben Stokes’ men to 77 for three by stumps.

“I think once the ball gets a little old, it becomes difficult to take wickets. So, the more we consistently bowl in one area and frustrate their batsmen, the better it is for us. We will try to make them score in only one area. Because when a batsman is able to score all around the ground, it becomes difficult to control them… I think our bowlers executed their plans really well.

“(The pitch) doesn’t have a lot for bowlers, but enough that if a batsman tries too hard, there are chances of getting out. When the batsman tries to do something different, the chances of getting him out increase.

“So, we will try to frustrate them while they bat, and wherever they try to score runs, we won’t give them that opportunity. I think that will be the most important thing for our bowling,” Gill remarked.

Only days after Magnus Carlsen referred to him as “one of the presumably weaker players,” India’s D. Gukesh delivered a powerful response-on the chessboard. The 18-year-old conquered the world No. 1 with the Black pieces in the sixth round of the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia, a segment of the Grand Chess Tour, on Thursday. This marked his second consecutive victory against Carlsen, propelling him to the top of the standings as the sole leader with 10 points from six matches.