'I told GG bhai, boundaries aren't coming': Mid-innings chat with Gautam Gambhir triggered Shubman Gill's epic 269
Having already notched up his second consecutive hundred in his debut series as captain on Day 1 at Edgbaston, Gill went on to torment England further, making their decision to bowl first on a flat deck look increasingly questionable. His double hundred made him the first Asian captain to score 200 or more in a Test in England. He eventually finished with his career-best first-class score of 269 — surpassing his previous best of 268, made for Punjab against Tamil Nadu in the 2018–19 season.
Yet, Gill admitted it wasn't as easy as he made it look. Speaking to former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta at stumps on Day 2, he revealed that in his initial stretch of 40 runs — scored during the second session on Day 1 — he struggled to find boundaries. It was a chat with Gambhir during the Tea break that helped unlock his rhythm and triggered what would go down as a historic knock.
"Yesterday, when I went out to bat, which came around lunchtime on Day 1, at Tea, by which I had scored around 35-40, I spoke to GG bhai, telling him that I found it difficult getting boundaries and I was missing out on a lot of opportunities. The ball, by then, had turned soft, but I could not score runs as freely as in the first Test. But I had just one aim that I would not let go of it. If there was one learning for me from the previous game, it was that there could be a collapse at any time in the game. So my mindset was to make as few errors as possible," he said.
'England preparations began during IPL'
Dasgupta highlighted some of the key aspects Gill changed in his batting technique for the tour of England, and the 25-year-old agreed, saying that he had started working on it during the IPL season to have that edge before the start of the series.
However, Gill explained that it was more a mental preparation after a quiet tour of Australia last season, which saw him go back to his basics and make sure he enjoys his batting, rather than concentrating on getting big scores.
"I worked a lot on it during the IPL and right before the start of the series. While I was scoring runs in previous matches, I felt that I lacked concentration. Many advised me that when we focus a lot, we tend to miss the peak time, and hence, my focus was largely around going back to the basics. It was not about scoring big runs, but about enjoying my batting. Sometimes, when you are not scoring runs, you tend to focus a lot on it, and hence don't enjoy the moment.
"There is a lot of difference between T20 and Test batting, so I thought starting my preparations right now would give me the edge by the time the series begins," he said.
India lead by 510 runs in the first innings, with England set to resume at 77 for three on Day 3.
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