Beautiful cricket from Skipper Rohit Sharma (103) and Shubman Gill (110) led India to get lead by 255 runs over England on Day 2 of the fifth Test at Dharamsala. Despite the century against England, Shubman Gill’s father expressed annoyance over the batter’s call to give up on the role of an opener.
Before the series against England, Shubman Gill had gone without a fifty in 12 innings. The youngster was in pressure. In absence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, Gill was shifted to No. 3 before the start of the tour of West Indies last July. In nine innings he played thereafter, the right-hander managed only 142 runs at just 17.75 with not a single half-century. But he bounced back against England to score two centuries. But Gill’s father and Ceach Lakhwinder is not pleased with his over the batter’s decision to give up on the role of an opener.
Lakhwinder was present at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Friday to witness the star India batter score his fourth career century. He expressed reservations about Shubman’s decision to bat at number three, suggesting that continuing to open would have been more suitable for his style of play. “He should have continued to open. It is not right at all I feel. When you sit in the dressing room for longer, the pressure tends to increase. Number 3 is not opening nor it is a middle-order spot,” Lakhwinder said.
“I don’t interfere in his decisions. I just train with him. He is old enough to make his own decisions. I made decisions on his behalf only when he was a teenager,” he continued. Additionally, Lakhwinder praised the BCCI’s decision to mandate Ranji Trophy appearances for India players. He said, “The calendar is so busy that he hardly trains for red ball, it is white ball mainly. That is why it gets tougher against spinners with the red ball. It is good that the BCCI has taken this step.”