India captain Shubman Gill has acknowledged that batting is a bit of an issue for the team in Test cricket. Not against teams like Afghanistan, whom they beat by an innings and 300 runs on day three of the only Test at the New Chandigarh Stadium on Monday afternoon. It is against bigger teams. Clearly, Gill had the home whitewashes against New Zealand and South Africa in mind — and the away series against Australia in 2024-25.
“When you’re batting first innings, try to post 350 on the board every time you get into bat, no matter where we are playing, what kind of conditions it is. I think there’s enough trust in our bowling group that we can take 20 wickets anywhere. Whenever there’s a transition, we feel the batting group is under more pressure, and we are trying to get experience. We’re trying to build here to see what kind of game can work for us as a batting group and in different conditions and different situations. How can we keep posting regularly 350-400 totals on the board?” Gill, who scored a century in the match, said after the win.
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India thrashed Afghanistan inside three days after deciding to bat. After scoring 564/8d, they ran through the visitors and bowled them out for 152 and 112. On day 3, Afghanistan resumed their first innings on 113/5, but it was a matter of time before they were bowled out. India then enforced the follow-on.
Gill explains the decision!
“I think [it is] a complete win from us, ticked all the boxes. So very happy with that. It was very hot. We decided that if we get them before lunch or just after the first drinks, we’ll see if the bowlers are fresh, and we’ll give them the follow-on. If not, we’ll bat a couple of sessions, and maybe at the end of the day, we’ll give them the ball again. But we got quick wickets, we came back. And also the way our fast bowlers bowled. Mohammed Siraj got us that crucial wicket when we gave them a follow-on, and Prasidh Krishna got three important wickets [in the first innings],” he said.
Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar picked up 6/33 in the first innings to register the third-best figures for an Indian. In the second innings, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav shared seven wickets between them. Gill was happy with the way the three performed. “The kind of quality, I think, Manav, Washi and Kuldeep have, all three of them, there was never any doubt. It’s all about getting the experience and getting a number of overs and seeing, on wickets like these, how to set the batsman up, keep varying the pace, keep testing the batsman in different areas,” he said.