Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels Shubman Gill has to work hard on his technique and Mayank Agarwal should be considered as a possible replacement for him at the top of the order for the upcoming Test series against England.
India will want to prepare well for the five Tests in England, a place where they haven’t won a red-ball series since 2007. Having lost the ICC World Test Championship final to New Zealand, Virat Kohli and Co have plenty of work to do before the first Test against England begins on August 4 in Nottingham.
In England, the openers face perhaps the biggest challenge in terms of batting as the new ball tends to do a lot. With Gill having scored just 76 runs in his last seven Test innings, Gavaskar reckons the Indian team management should take a good look at Agarwal as a possible replacement.
“Mayank Agarwal has done a really good job for India, twice he’s scored a double century opening the innings. It’s a good thing that the BCCI and Jay Shah have taken the initiative to conduct some warm-up matches before the England Tests so there you can decide who between Gill and Agarwal can open for India,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“Make them open the innings together because Rohit Sharma is a certainly and he can be rested for a game. That would give you an idea who has the better technique for English conditions. And then based on that, they can make a decision whether they want to play Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill.”
The legendary batsman explained that Gill’s footwork isn’t right at the moment and he needs to work hard to rectify his mistakes.
“His (Gill’s) footwork isn’t much. He only goes in front and that’s not the case with him only in England. Even in the series in India, there too, he had just one movement which is forward. There’s no effort to go on the backfoot and that is why he plays across the line,” said Gavaskar.
“Because once your feet go forward, with that balance, it’s tough to get back on the backfoot if the length is slightly short, is tough. So he needs to work hard, there’s no doubt about his talent. But if he works a bit hard, he will get the reward.”