Bengaluru, Sept 6
Shubman Gill acknowledged that despite returning to form in the series against England, he is yet to “meet expectations” in Test cricket.Gill credited working on his defensive batting as key to his turnaround in Test fortunes during the England series earlier in the year.The young batting prodigy averages 35.52 after 25 Tests, an average that was boosted after he made 452 runs in the home series against England.”I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners,” Gill told ESPNCricinfo from Bengaluru, where he is playing the Duleep Trophy as captain of the India A side.”If you’re playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more, then you play your scoring shots,” he said.”I feel it batting-friendly tracks in white-ball games takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series,” Gill said.Gill revealed later that he requested the team management to move him to No.3 as it was his preferred position in first-class cricket.He went on to make a crucial hundred in Vizag in the second Test and finished the series with an average of 56.5.However, he admitted to not quite nailing the format yet and hoped to turn it around in the upcoming World Test Championship games India are scheduled to play.”Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet,” he said.”But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations,” Gill said.India have three home Tests against New Zealand followed by a five-match series in Australia at the end of the year.
