India Test captain Shubman Gill’s technically sound game and calm temperament have left a mark on former England opener Mark Butcher, who feels Gill has taken ownership of Virat Kohli’s number four spot quite comfortably despite the “enormous scrutiny”. Butcher has also been impressed with Gill, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. All three scored hundreds recently as well.
Speaking to PTI, Butcher said, “There aren’t many jobs in world sport that come with as much pressure and scrutiny as being Indian cricket captain, right? Not to mention you’re filling in Kohli’s spot in the order, or Tendulkar’s spot in the order (both held number four spot). So the pressures were enormous. And so far, he’s taken to it like a duck to water. He’s just looked very, very comfortable, very serene in terms of his temperament.”
While there were some questions over Shubman Gill’s temperament and technique before the Test series, he shut that debate with 585 runs in four innings.
READ HERE: Jasprit Bumrah Opens Up On Dropped Catches Against England
“And technically, he’s played beautifully as well. So what a great start to the series. I mean, he might have some records in his side by the end of it. He’s passed enough already. So what’s he got? 600 already in the series. It has been an incredible start. And England will have to come up with an answer for him in that middle order, because they obviously feel, that you get past the top three or four…and then there are bounties to be had a bit further down the order,” he said.
Mark Butcher also praised KL Rahul, who has performed well at both up and down the batting order in recent times as well. After Rohit Sharma’s retirement, the opening pairing of Jaiswal and Rahul stepped up as well.
“Every time I’ve seen KL play, so we go back to the 2021 series here in England, and he batted at the top of the order with Rohit,” said Butcher. “So technically, he just looks very, very suited to top-order batting, really. And the fact that he’s now going to have a long run, hopefully, in that position, his average will go upwards of 40 very, very quickly because technically he’s fabulous. He’s a great player to watch.”
“I really love watching him bat. And Jaiswal is just a generational talent. The number three thing is a little bit sticky for India. It was a bit harsh on (Sai) Sudharsan after the first Test for him to find himself on the outside. And now Karun Nair’s had, sort of three, four failures over the course of the series.” Mark Butcher said.
READ HERE: “He is like a computer” – Steven Finn hails Jasprit Bumrah after his fifer on Day 3
“…you have to kind of make your choice and stick with it for a while because clearly, facing the new ball is difficult. People are going to get out for low scores. But you have to make your decision on who you think is the guy that’s going to fulfil that position. Jaiswal just loves batting by the looks of it. I was talking to Kumar Sangakkara about him, obviously knows him from time at the IPL. And he just says he’s obsessed by batting and scoring runs. And he does it in a beautifully pleasing way. For somebody who’s so young and so relatively inexperienced to sort of look as comfortable at the top of the order in all these different conditions, is magnificent,” he stated.
“Yeah, possibly (he has a short ball weakness). It hasn’t cost him his wicket as yet. But it’ll be something that he’ll work on, I’m sure. And England have had a little bit of success against him around the wicket as well. But as I’ve said, he’s so sort of obsessed with batting and with improving. I’m sure he’ll come up with an answer for it,” Mark Butcher concluded.
