Australian legend Ricky Ponting has opined on India opener Shubman Gill’s poor overseas Test record, explaining how he could improve his performances in challenging conditions like Australia. Since his heroic 91 at the Gabba in 2021, which helped India register a historic series win, Gill has scored only one Test century outside India, in Bangladesh in 2022 as well. Across nine Tests in England, Bangladesh, West Indies, South Africa, and Australia, Gill averages 23.8. In contrast, he has scored 1177 runs at an average of 42.03 with four centuries across 17 Tests at home as well.

“I love watching him play. When you’re watching him bat and bat well, he looks as good as anyone in world cricket.“But the numbers don’t really stack up, do they, away from home?” Ponting said while speaking to ICC Review. “I watched him a little bit in Adelaide, and it almost looked like he changed things up too much. Scott Boland was bowling, and he changed his guard, moved across to the off stump, presented his front pad to Boland, and got out to a full straight one.”

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However, rather than making any huge changes, Ricky Ponting also said Shubman Gill could improve his returns by trusting his instincts as well.

“If anything, he needs to back himself a little bit more, needs to back his defensive technique a little bit more here in Australia, and still find a way to be able to score and score quickly,” Ricky Ponting concluded. “When he’s generally scored runs anywhere around the world, he scores them in a nice, attacking mode. He’s almost to the point where he’s not thinking about getting out-he’s only thinking about scoring runs.”