Lord’s Test: Manjrekar decodes Gill’s second-inning dismissal, urges Indian captain to navigate temperament better

Indian captain Shubman Gill failed to score big on his third successive Test outing in the UK, getting out cheaply across both innings in the third match at the Lord's. While there was not much to read in his first-inning dismissal, where he nicked one behind off Chris Woakes, his second-inning one urged the commentators and analysts to look deep into his game. One such broadcaster, Sanjay Manjrekar, shared some insights on the same; he urged Gill to seek clarity on navigating his temperament better. He cited examples of two former Indian captains who navigated this in their way and succeeded.

Chasing 192 in the second innings, Gill walked out to bat after Karun Nair’s dismissal late on day four. Unlike how he batted in the previous two Tests, he looked out of place late, with England fielders making it worse for him by sledging him. Under pressure to deliver for his team in this crunch situation, Gill failed to replicate his past performances. The English quicks made most of this situation, attacking Gill and finally getting the better of him, with Brydon Carse dismissing him, trapped in front of the wickets.

“Gill suddenly looking tentative last evening, had a lot to do with the hostility he got at the crease from England,” Manjrekar said in his social media post.

Sanjay continued writing, unlike the two former Indian captains, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, who coped with such situations differently, Gill failed to navigate his temperament in either way, finding himself in a no man's land. While Kohli used to get into the God mode upon being sledged, making him more dangerous, Dhoni used to stay calm, which helped him throughout his professional career.

“Virat performed better, the angrier he got. Dhoni the exact opposite. Gill must decide what gets the best out of him as batter, calmness or anger,” Manjrekar said.

Crazy game at Lord’s

After India dismissed England on 387 in the first innings, they put up a similar score on the board in reply, making it the 17th instance in Test history when two teams got out on similar scores in a Test match. With that, this match turned into a One-Dayer, with England hitting 191 in their second innings, setting an under-par yet challenging target (192) for India.

Team India lost four wickets overnight, including their captain Gill, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and new number three Karun Nair. Early on day five, England accounted for Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Washington Sundar, putting India’s back against the wall.