Shubman Gill, classy batting, and the inevitable century

The first thing you notice about any Shubman Gill innings is the crispness. His batting is all clean lines, geometric arcs and pristine timing. Gill may not have the traditional power game, but when he executes his short-arm jab pull shots, or essays cuts without flourish, you can see that he can pack a punch behind his strokes too.

There was one moment during his first innings as the Indian Test captain, that Gill shed his normally unflappable demeanour and let his inner emotions come to the surface. When he had just laced the boundary that brought up his century, Gill’s celebrations fleetingly resembled those of India’s previous No.4. Virat Kohli wore his heart on his sleeve, and for a moment, so did Gill. An emotional hug with batting partner and vice-captain Rishabh Pant later, Gill was back to his regal self, bringing out the trademark bows to the crowd and his team.

Gill came into this Test series versus England with an average of 35.1 over 32 games. Middling, you might have said. Not good enough, you might have thought. Hardly captaincy material, you might have pointed out.

You would have been wrong.

Before the Headingley game, Gill had only batted in the top three. In the 32 matches he had played, the overall average of someone in the top 3 was 33.6. That was because those games were mostly played on tough pitches, against deep bowling attacks. So Gill’s figure of 35.1 was actually above-par, overall. He played 15 away Tests, and of those, 11 were in Australia, England and South Africa.

All of which is to say that there was no doubting Shubman Gill’s class, pedigree, or ability to churn out Test runs like he was born to do so.

When faced with an attack that wasn’t as disciplined, on a pitch that wasn’t as spiteful, the range of Gill expressed itself. He was a commanding figure at the crease, never looking troubled. The only hesitation in his innings came when running between the wickets. Otherwise, he was supreme.

The inevitability of the hundred

It is very rare for a Test century to look pre-ordained, but from the moment Gill first put bat to ball, a three-figure score seemed to be his for the taking.

England’s bowlers weren’t getting the movement off the seam or in the air to trouble him. They weren’t precision monsters, landing the ball on a coin. It was a day where the sun was out in full glory. It was also a day on which Gill shone the brightest.

At No.4, he was stepping into massive shoes. Sachin Tendulkar held that spot for years. When he left, Virat Kohli stepped in almost seamlessly. Two of the greatest India has produced, and No.4 had been their domain since three-plus decades. And yet, none of that pressure seemed to be visible in the slightest. In the middle, Gill was what he had always been: a highly skilled batter intent on scoring runs.

“Honestly, when I want to go out there and bat, I just want to play as a batsman,” Gill had said on match eve, and he lived up to those words. “Whenever I’m going out there, I want to play as a batsman and want to dominate the opposition and be the best batsman in the series, and that’s what I’m trying to look at.”

The end goal

Getting a hundred in his first innings as Test captain, and his first time batting at No.4 is the start Gill would have dreamed of. There is nothing like the authority performances in the middle bring, and for a new captain, it was immensely valuable.

But Gill knows this is only the start. He has his sights set on the bigger goal. When asked if winning the IPL as captain would be bigger, or winning this Test series – Gill didn’t have a normal templated answer. He was forthright.

“You don’t get many opportunities as a captain to be able to come to England,” he reflected on match eve. “Maybe two, (and) if you are the best of your generation, maybe three.

“IPL comes every year, and you get to have a crack at it every year. So in my opinion, winning a Test series in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa is bigger.”

In the first game after Tendulkar retired, Kohli had hit a century at No.4. In the first game after Kohli has retired, Gill has now repeated that feat. As beginnings go, you can’t ask for more.