Team India Test captain Shubman Gill credited India’s never-give-up attitude and calmness under pressure as the defining traits of their return to level the five-match Test series 2-2, after a dramatic six-run win over England in the final Test at The Oval.
Speaking to the media after the game, Shubman Gill said, “This morning kind of summarized what this team is all about. 70 odd runs, 7 wickets in hand. The way Brook and Root were going, not many teams in the world would have given themselves a chance. But this team believes that whenever we have some kind of an opening, we can make that, we can get through that opening. And that’s what we were talking about once Brook was out, and then we got an early wicket of [Jacob] Bethell, that this is our opening, let’s try to build pressure on them.”
Gill also revealed that once the breakthrough came, the team sensed a shift in momentum as well. The message, he said, was very simple – to keep pressing, even if the target seemed close too.
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“One more wicket from here. And you never know, it’s cricket, still 70 odd runs on Day 4, on that kind of a wicket, or even 50 runs, they would be under pressure. But when you’ve got bowlers like him [Siraj] bowling it makes your job as a captain very easy. You’re just standing out there, and you just want to appreciate their bowling,” he stated.
“We did have the option of a second (new) ball. But I think the way Siraj and Prasidh were bowling, we didn’t feel like we needed a new ball. They can do the job for us even if it’s an 84-over-old ball… We knew that there was a lot of pressure on them. In such a situation, there is always more pressure on the batting team. Because it’s a one-ball game. So we thought that the longer we take the game, the more probability we will have to produce wicket-taking balls,” he again shared.
However, team India played the match without key players like Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, and were 1-2 down as well.
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“When you have players like him [Siraj], you don’t really feel like that (missing the other players)… Even Boom bhai [Bumrah], I don’t need to say much about him, he is one of the best fast bowlers in the world right now. But in Birmingham, I said we have so much talent in this country… so, it’s just important for us to be able to bring our A game. And that’s what my focus was, that all the players are feeling mentally up there and they are able to bring their A game whenever we are out on the park,” he added.
“There are moments like these, where you feel the journey is worth it, the moment that we had in the morning… You should be able to navigate through the highs and lows of life and try to stay balanced throughout. That’s what at least I believe in, that I want to be able to stay balanced, whether we have won the match, lost the match, I’ve done well, or I’ve not done well. It’s difficult, but it’s a process. That’s the real journey, to be able to stay balanced. I’m still learning, but so far, so good,” Shubman Gill concluded.
