Ind vs Aus: Sanjay Manjrekar lavishes huge praise on Shubman Gill, reveals 'another of his rare strengths'

Rohit Sharma-led India's fourth and final Test versus Australia, in the 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), ended in a tame draw in Ahmedabad as the hosts won the series 2-1. In the high-scoring series decider, Australia posted 480 all-out riding on centuries from Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green whereas India replied back strongly with tons from Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli (186). On Day 5, on Monday (March 13), both sides settled for a draw when Australia were 175 for 2 in the final session with no chance of any result.

There were a lot of positives for Team India in the just-concluded BGT. While the biggest positive is that India entered the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), the likes of Shubman Gill and Axar Patel also impressed and were some bright performers along with senior pros R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, captain Rohit. Former Indian batter-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar lavished huge praise on Gill and revealed 'another of his rare strengths' while comparing him with Virender Sehwag.

During a discussion onStar Sports, Manjrekar said, "He showed glimpses of it when he made his debut in Australia. It seemed that he is a capable player and can play Test cricket as well. We knew his fundamentals were good when we saw him in Under-19. Rahul Dravid was the coach then and was very happy with his basic abilities."

"The things I liked - one thing I will talk about is the footwork. The front foot is now going further forward although the trigger movement is the back foot. This will help him a lot in Test cricket," Manjrekar opined.

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'This power game saves you in nervous moments as it did with Virender Sehwag'

Manjrekar further added, "The second thing we saw in Test cricket as well is the big game, the confidence with which he plays the lofted shots. When you see him, it seems he is a purist, a classical player to an extent, but the power game comes whenever he calls for it. In this match also he played a lofted shot in the nineties to go close to a hundred. He reached his (ODI) double hundred also with a six. This power game saves you in nervous moments as it did with Virender Sehwag. I didn't know about this but now it has come to the fore that this is another of his rare strengths."

Gill will now shift his focus on the ODI series versus Australia, which kicks off in Mumbai on March 17. After that, he will gear up for defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2023, which commences on March 31 in Ahmedabad.