‘Australia celebrated like work was done’ – Shubman Gill reveals Gabba 2021 incident involving Rohit Sharma
Shubman Gill reminisced his memorable knock of 91 in the run-chase of the famous Brisbane Test last year where he played his part in creating history for the Indian team.
Gill’s magnificent knock, one which perhaps defines the early part of his promising Test career for India, helped the country breach the fortress of ‘Gabba’ and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
While his class and ability were evident throughout his great innings, in an interview with gqindia.com, the 22-year-old revealed the moment that only spurred him on and made him more determined to dominate the Australian attack that day.
Chasing a daunting target of 328 on a worsening surface, India lost their experienced opener Rohit Sharma for just 7 with only 18 runs on the board. This is when Shubman Gill saw Australians give away their attitude and thought process about the game-situation via their body language.
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Shubman Gill played the innings of his Test career so far in Brisbane.
“It was as if they knew the procession had started” – Shubman Gill
Gill remembers vividly seeing the entire Australian team celebrate in a “casual manner”, which suggested they believed India are here to meekly cave under the pressure of the run-chase and collapse to another defeat in Gabba.
“It was as if they knew the procession had started. They celebrated casually. Ho gaya kaam–types [Like their work is done],” Gill said in his interview.
This brought the aggressive instinct out of the young man, who stitched a counter-attacking stand with No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara. Shubman Gill on the attack and Pujara focused on defence, through their contrasting but mighty effective style, they put on 114 runs for the second wicket and took the game back to Australia.
A product of India’s robust domestic set-up, Gill recalled feeling “comfortable” facing the pace and bounce that Australian pacers generated after he overcame his initial doubts. With the short-pitch deliveries being his strength, Gill went on to play out the ever-disciplined Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood with ease and dominated the more-erratic Mitchell Starc.
“As a youngster making your debut in Australia, the biggest doubt in your mind is whether you will be able to hand the pace. Pat Cummins and Starc are known for their pace and Josh Hazlewood for his line and length. But when I was able to conquer that doubt and I felt comfortable handling that pace, then it was all about my mindset,” he said.
At one stage, when Pujara and Gill were rebuilding the innings following Rohit’s departure, it felt that India might be eyeing the safety and a draw. But soon, Gill clarified his and India’s intentions with an assault on Starc. The elegant right-hander hit Starc to all parts of the ground.
He revealed the idea was to cut down risks against Cummins and Hazlewood but to go after Starc, who is likely to lose his line and length if India went after him.
“He and Cummins were bowling short at us and my idea was to attack Starc. If you go back and watch that innings again, you will notice that not once did I pull Cummins. The pull shots were off Starc, keeping in mind the shorter square boundary from that side,” he said.
“I felt that even if I got a top edge, it would clear the fielders and get me boundaries because he was bowling at good pace. The end from which Cummins was bowling had a much bigger boundary, so I told myself to only attempt the pull shot against Starc and leave the short balls from Cummins alone. The idea was to hit every bouncer that Starc sent down, and it paid off for me that day,” he concluded.