India vs England: On the verge of being dropped, how Shubman Gill rediscovered himself in the nick of time to not only salvage his spot but win the Test series

After the bear-hugs and high-fives, Shubman Gill retreated to a quiet corner on the dressing room balcony, scrambled on a chair and wrapped his face in his arms. It might have been a moment when he was reliving his own comeback story, from the edge of being shown the way out after failures in the first three outings before rediscovering himself with a hundred, 91 and the unbeaten 55 on Monday. It was the series in which he lost and found himself, a series and a string of innings that he would revisit in difficult times in the future, seek answers and courage from, and hold close to his heart for a long time.

All three aforementioned innings were valuable, all three had distinct qualities and meanings. But this one, the lowest score among the three, could be the most special to Gill. For, this was the kind of setting he is predisposed to fail in; that would pose questions not just to his technique and temper, but his ambition and mettle, one that would confirm his desire and determination to be a great of the game.

The challenges were unique — a wearing track, an energised group of bowlers, partners deserting him one after the other, the pressure intensifying, and the game in the balance. It was Gill’s time to rise, his time to show he belongs here, his time to silence the doubts about his game.

In 159 minutes, he grew in stature, showed that he could steer a tricky chase, finish a match, rewire his game, that he is indeed destined for greatness.

Gill’s game is not yet flawless. Nobody’s game is. Great batsmen just work their way around their own weaknesses, hide them in plain sight with immaculate mastery. Gill’s hands are still hard when defending on the front foot. He cannot change that overnight; his feet are not as nimble as say Rohit Sharma or Yashasvi Jaiswal. He was not raised on clay-soil pitches, but concrete tracks in his backyard and the black-soil Mohali surface.

After solid resistance with the bat, Shubman Gill clears the ropes twice and brings up his FIFTY! 😎#TeamIndia only 2 runs away from a win in Ranchi!

Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/FUbQ3MhXfH#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/zahlGUrYQG

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 26, 2024

But he ensured that he did not stab or grope at the ball. He resisted the urge to feel bat on ball. He waited for the balls to reach him. He would play the ball just beside or behind the front foot, which he ensured was always outside the line of the stumps. So even if the ball hit his front pad, as it did several times, he was safe. To anything fuller, he would stretch fully and defend. The weight-transfer was considerably smoother. The hard slog in the nets is paying off. Sometimes, he defended with a semi-vertical bat. A short-arm defensive shot, one could call. He used feet more than he usually does. “In the first innings, the ball was not turning much. So I didn’t use my feet. In the second innings, I decided to take the LBW out of the equation by using my feet,” he told the broadcasters.

Fighting against himself

It was a battle between Gill and Gill. He was in no haste to impose himself on the spinners. He struck no fours, and his first six came off the 120th ball he faced, when the target was exactly 20 runs. He kept running — 31 singles, three twos and one three.

This was an innings ripped out of Virat Kohli’s chase manual. Gill knows he doesn’t have the suppleness of wrists to work the ball through the leg-side, where 32 of his runs were accrued. Either he pushed singles to mid-on or flicked in the direction of midwicket. He barely drove on the rise, or cut, and pulled only when the ball was really short.

The dirt from the black-soil patches creasing his shirt did not bother him; neither did the march-past of his partners back to the dressing room. He had resolved to win the game on his own, blending attrition and dourness. He played the patience game —the first 36 balls yielded him just nine runs. Indulgences were kept at bay. The odd unplayable ball would pop up time and time again. But Gill didn’t let it gnaw in his mind. He even unfurled a stroke one associates with soft-handed players, the dab through third man. When Shoaib Bashir served him a bit of width, he just opened the bat face and dabbed the ball through third-man for three runs. Bashir was the biggest challenge, but Gill forensically dissected him.

In Dhruv Jurel’s company, he kept the chase simple. “You have to see the situation and play accordingly – they were bowling well and protecting the boundaries, also not giving maidens and keep picking the singles (was the mindset). I just told him (Jurel), ‘you batted beautifully in the first innings’ and to have the same mindset, try to use the feet to negate the off-spinner. The way he came down and played was beautiful,” Gill said.

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The target in sight, he heaved two sixes and wrapped up the chase without any drama. It could be an innings that would soon be forgotten, but could be an innings that he keeps close to his heart. An innings that reaffirmed that he has the heart and hunger to be a batting great. And in the end, he deserved his quiet moment in the corner of the dressing room to reflect on a coming-of-age-on-a-turner knock.

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