AUS vs IND: Rahane’s knock was all about patience, reckons Gill

The India batting unit put behind it’s shocking performance in the second innings of the Adelaide Test, after a much improved performance on the second Day of the Boxing Day Test. Rahane played a crucial role in India taking a lead of 82 runs in the first innings with five wickets still in hand. Debutant, Shubman Gill, who made an impressive 45 runs praised his captain for his patient knock and took valuable lessons from it.

“This knock was all about patience. He was patient, and more importantly when you are playing such a high-quality bowling attack, sometimes you go in that shell and you are not able to score runs. The way Ajinkya bhai played, it was such a magnificent knock to watch from outside. How to see off those tough periods, the loose balls that he was getting he was making sure he was putting all of them away,” said Gill.

Speaking about his performance, Gill stated that he backed himself to play with intent and had reasonable amount of confidence going into match, after having faced the likes of Bumrah, Shami and Umesh Yadav in the nets. The debutant scored 45 runs, and missed his half century by just five runs, after chasing a ball outside off.

“When I came in to bat, there was something in the pitch and the pitch was lively. The only thing which I told myself was that no matter what’s happening on the pitch or what’s happening around me, I should be able to play my game and I should be able to express myself, play with intent. That was my thought process throughout my innings.

“I’ve been travelling with the team for the last four-five Test series. Being with the team, it helped me a lot. To be able to settle in the team. I’ve been doing all my net sessions and practice sessions, to be able to play someone like Boom (Bumrah), Shami bhai, Umesh bhai or Ishant bhai in the nets, it’s a huge confidence booster for a youngster to be playing against a top bowling attack in the nets. When I went out to bat today, I didn’t really feel like I was in a whole new place.”

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I’m not really happy with the way I got out: Gill

Shubman Gill also stated that he was not happy with the way he got out, chasing a ball way outside off. “I’m not really happy with the way I got out. It was the last ball of Cummins’s spell and I should have seen it off. It was a loose shot to play at that moment. But overall my goal was to play with intent and build partnerships, and I managed it to an extent.”

He suggested that there could be a lot of turn going forward into the Test match as the cracks are expected to widen. “As you saw on the first day as well, there was a bit of turn for Ash [Ashwin] bhai and Jaddu [Jadeja] bhai. Today also, you could see there was a bit of turn for Nathan (Lyon). Obviously, there’s going to be more cracks and the wicket is going to get more challenging for the batsmen. So it’s really important for us to capitalise on this lead that we have and then to get them all-out as quickly as possible.”