Aim was to score runs square of the wicket and less down the ground: Gill

On a surface with many challenges for batters, Shubman Gill batted like a dream at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday (September 15). One of India’s most-equipped batters against both pace and spin, Gill had his chance to take Bangladesh down the line in the last Super Four encounter of the Asia Cup 2023, and for the major part of his innings, he seemed well on course. 

With the dry wicket aiding spinners massively, playing on the backfoot became the key. It became even more paramount because Mustafizur Rahman and Tanzim Hasan Sakib were generating seam movement off the surface, so Gill decided to occupy the crease and capitalize on the square of the wicket instead of going down the ground - a mistake his fellow batters committed.

"On slow wickets, more runs are scored square of the wicket and less down the ground. So, the aim was to do that,” Shubman Gill said in the post-match press conference in Colombo.

"On slow wickets, there are a lot of dot balls. Our chat as a batting group is to reduce dot balls and rotate strikes. The track was slow and was taking turn, so taking singles was not easy, especially for new batters. The talk was about playing it late and close to the body.

"The World Cup is such a long tournament, and as we go deep into the tournament, the wickets will get slower. It is not easy for batsmen coming in to rotate strikes and minimise dot balls. That's what, as a batting unit and bowling group, we are looking to overcome,” the Punjab batter added.

Playing against spinners has been one of India’s biggest bugbears in recent times, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both putting them in challenging situations for two games in a row. Gill admitted that they are working on that area, knowing in a long tournament like the World Cup, the wicket would definitely get slower.

"We had a camp in Bangalore before coming here and practiced on similar surfaces. The World Cup is such a long tournament, and as we go deep into the tournament, the wickets will get slower. It is not easy for batsmen coming in to rotate strikes and minimize dot balls. That's what, as a batting unit and bowling group, we are looking to overcome."

Even though it was a great outing for Gill on a personal front in a dead-rubber game - one that is bound to raise his confidence level ahead of the 2023 ICC World Cup  - Gill regrets not being able to finish off the game. 

"There's so much adrenaline when you are batting; sometimes you miscalculate. That was a miscalculation on my side. When you got out, you saw there was a lot of time left. If I had batted a bit normally or not that aggressively, we should have been able to get over the line. Fortunately, this was not the final for us. These are the kind of learnings that, as a batsman, you want to take and move forward."