“Very, Very Ordinary”: Dinesh Karthik Doesn’t Mince Words, Gives Blunt Analysis On Shubman Gill

As the focus remains on under-fire veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, a few other members of India’s batting unit haven’t performed either. Kohli and Rohit’s struggles with the bat in Australia have been a cause for concern but the talented Shubman Gill hasn’t repaid the faith shown in him by the team management either. As Gill continues to search for his prime form, former India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has highlighted a ‘technical flaw’ in the batter’s playing style.

In the three outings that Gill has been a part of this series, he has recorded scores of 31, 28, and 1. Karthik feels Gill needs to fix the ‘flaw’ in his batting if he is to succeed in Australia. Karthik also feels Gill needs to alter his approach a little. At the moment, he seems to be playing the same way he would in Australia, which is an incorrect approach.

“I think Shubman Gill definitely has a slight technical error, which is pushing at the ball. When you play a lot of white ball cricket, you tend to do that. Travis Head does that as well, but what he has found is the method of doing that, and I think that players like Shubman Gill are caught in the trap of the way they bat in India and the way they bat outside,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“Which is, the moment you see the ball released from the bowler, your mind tells you that this is a full ball you need to go at it. Batsmen who travel abroad to places like Australia, England and South Africa tune themselves in practice when they see a fuller ball like that, especially against a new ball – A) they play with slightly soft hands, or B) they try and focus on playing the ball as close to the body or leave. Shubman Gill is playing like he would play in India, where he sees the release, goes for the ball with hard hands. Now in Australia, sometimes, in places like the Gabba, playing off the front foot is a little difficult. So at the start of the innings, you have to tell yourself that, I have to leave,” Karthik pointed out Shubman Gill’s critical flaw in his batting.

Karthik didn’t mince words as he criticised the right-handed batter for playing ‘ordinary shots’ in Australia.

“For a No.3 batsman who has been around for so long, Shubman Gill has played a very, very ordinary shot, there are no mincing words here. And let’s be honest here, that the Indian batting, as a group, have not fired here for some time now, and with every passing innings, they are putting pressure on themselves,” Karthik concluded.