The star Indian batter Shubman Gill highlighted Indian youngsters grabbing opportunities in the absence of senior figures in the ongoing Test series against England on Wednesday. Leading up to the fourth Test in Ranchi, Gill also praised Sarfaraz Khan for stepping up in the absence of Virat Kohli.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference, Gill played out the importance of players converting good starts into big knocks in the ongoing series. India recorded 400-plus totals in both innings of the third Test match in Rajkot with three players scoring centuries and two scoring fifties.
Gill failed to reach a 50-plus score in his first three innings in this series but managed to bounce back with a century in Vizag and 91 off 151 balls in the latest innings in Rajkot. India's no.3 said that players can't score big knocks in every game but everybody is chipping in with runs in this series.
"We have scored close to 400 in the first innings of every match so far in the series. Every batter can't score big runs in every game, everyone goes through ups and downs,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference. "In the first match, multiple players scored over 80. In the second match, Yashavi Jaiswal scored a double hundred. In the previous match, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja scored centuries. It's not that only one batter is performing. Everybody is chipping in with runs and that's why we are able to put close to 400 runs on board every time."
Gill also showered praises on Sarfraz Khan for his impressive performance in the Rajkot Test. Sarfaraz enjoyed a memorable and much-awaited debut by scoring 130 runs across two innings at a strike rate of 94.20.
"Virat Kohli hasn't been with us for three matches. Obviously, when a player of Kohli calibre isn't available, it does make a little difference but in his place, the way Sarfaraz Khan recently batted, he did very well. New players are getting opportunities and they are grabbing them." Gill added.
