Sanjay Manjrekar compares Shubman Gill with Virat Kohli after defeat against England in first Test, says 'he would have been at it'

India.com

6 hours ago

Sanjay Manjrekar questioned Shubman Gill's defensive approach.
New Delhi: Shubman Gill defensive tactic in the fifth-day of the first India vs England Test attracted a lot of criticism as England managed to produce a record second-highest successful run chase to begin the series with a win. During his first Test match with India as a captain, Gill was criticized as being overreactive and positioning fields that trailed the ball, which in turn enabled England to score 371 with still five wickets intact.
'Most people felt Shubman Gill went too defensive. But I think he was trying to trap England by cutting off boundaries, hoping the wickets would come eventually,' said former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on JioHotstar.
Day 5 started with dark skies and a defensive outfield positioning that saw Gill place too many men in the field. Manjrekar also said that Virat Kohli would never have tried such an idea to leave the opposition batters easily and not get threatened by the close-in fielders.
'I hate to bring Virat Kohli as a comparison as Shubman Gill is a young captain but he would not have put such a defensive field. That's different from someone like Virat Kohli, who might say: We have enough runs, I'll get you all out before Tea. Whether he would have gotten wickets with an attacking field is guaranteed ut he would have been at it,' Manjrekar said.
The former India batter admitted that Gill did not have such bowling power as Kohli had once at his disposal, and the bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma were at their best.
'Gill doesn't have the same seam attack as England—though they don't have Bumrah but English team has more all-round options. Even with Jadeja, I felt India should've started with a standard field rather than pre-empting reverse sweeps. You want to start with attacking intent—even if only for a few overs—before going defensive. That said, I don't want to be overly critical of Shubman. He's a new captain, and we should be understanding of that,' he added.
Driven by the superb 188-opening stand between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, the hosts displayed an enhanced manifestation of their signature Bazball approach.
Duckett was lucky to survive on 97 when Yashasvi Jaiswl dropped a catch and Crawley had two chances taken out by Bumrah. But there was no missed chance in England as Root composed himself beautifully and Smith relied on the strokeplay as the hope of an Indian miracle was shuttered.
It was the 12 th successful chase England have completed in their last 18 Tests under coach Brendon McCullum, a style of more refined aggression that should not be confused with reckless abandon. It also became the third Test match in the history to ever produce 350 runs in both innings and it made the game dramatic and exciting throughout its duration.