Following a stunning outing with the bat at Birmingham, Indian captain Shubman Gill opened up on the changes in his batting technique after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Gill’s historic double ton and a century were key to India’s victory over England, as he posted massive scores of 269 and 161 across both innings. Moreover, Gill took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award as India levelled the series 1-1 as well.

Speaking about his changes in the batting, Gill said in the presser, “There were some things that I started working on. I think I started working at the time when IPL was ending. The perception of technique and people, I think, changes after every series, after every match. We, as a team or as a player, do not focus much on what people are saying about you.”

“It changes in every match. But the important thing is that whenever you are going to a match, what your team thinks about you, what your players think about you, if your teammates think about you, if they have confidence in you, then that is more important for me, rather than what people outside are thinking about me, or what they think about my technique,” he further added.

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With 430 runs across both innings, Shubman Gill has the second-highest score of runs in a single Test, behind England’s Graham Gooch, who had smashed 456 runs after scoring 333 and 123 against India at Lord’s back in 1990 as well. However, he also became the second batter to post 150-plus scores in both innings of a Test after Allan Border (150* & 153) against Pakistan in Lahore in 1980 as well.

“Especially when you are the captain, I think you need to lead by example so that whenever there is another player in that situation, you can command to that player, this is what the team requires right now and you always have to put the team first rather than your personal desires or sometimes you want to try some things but I think if you put the team ahead of you, you would always walk in the right direction or walk on the right path and that’s what I wanted to do in this match. If a good ball gets me out, it gets me out, but as long as I am there, I want to play as long as possible,” he shared.

“Even in the first inning, I think we fielded for about 90 overs, which is about a day. So I think that is good. Like I said, there are different perspectives to look at things. I think even in the series, in the upcoming matches, if we are able to score runs consistently, post around 400 or 300 totals, we would always be in the game,” Shubman Gill concluded.