The net bowlers were tiring, the support staff members were busily packing their kitbags, most of his colleagues had retreated. Yet, Shubman Gill refused to leave the nets, driving throw-downs from 18 yards and lofting spinners over mid-on by standing in the crease and just extending his arms. Often, one of the support staff would drop by and enquire about his neck. Gill would give the thumbs up and on cue, twist his neck sideways for a paddle sweep, to show that he was ready for Pune.
After missing the Bengaluru Test due to a neck sprain, Gill could return to the eleven in Pune, provided the doctors certify him as fully fit, and straightaway retain his No.3 spot. Batting coach Ryan ten Doeschate was classically non-committal: “He’s batted last week in Bengaluru (nets), he had a few nets. He’s got a little bit of discomfort, but I’ll think he will be good to go for the Test.”
If Gill is brought in, it will bring a selection dilemma because only one among KL Rahul or Sarfaraz Khan can be fielded.
After the 150 at the Chinnaswamy, Sarfaraz’s spot is nearly non-negotiable. Besides, if the Pune surface turns out to be a turner, his game against spinners would prove invaluable.
That makes it a straight shootout between Rahul and Gill. Both are traversing a curious phase in their career. Both have shown ample signs of converting talent into consistency, shrugging the troubled trajectory a few months ago.
Rahul failed in both innings in Bengaluru — unfortunate according to coach ten Doeschate as those were the only two balls that troubled him — but his last ten innings featured a hundred in Centurion and two vital half-centuries. Hundreds overseas, especially overseas, have an un-diminishing recall value. Five of his eight Test hundreds were wrought in SENA nations.
Besides, at 32, this could be his last shot at cracking the consistency code that had eluded his start-stop career, blighted by injuries. He was looking to settle down when he got a quadricep strain during the Hyderabad Test. The year before, he had undergone quadricep surgery while a thigh strain stalled his career in 2021.
Since his return from the recent injury he has not looked so much as out of touch as out of runs. Ten Doeschate elaborated: “I went to KL after the last Test and asked, ‘how many balls did you play and miss?’ He didn’t play and miss one ball. But that tends to happen when you’re not getting runs. He got the two balls in the game, one caught down the leg side and one that he managed to nick. So there’s certainly no concern about KL. He is in a good mental space.”
At 32, this could be Rahul’s last shot at cracking the consistency code that had eluded his start-stop career, blighted by injuries. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)
In the nets too, he middled most balls. He began with a bunch of raspy drives off seamers, before he unboxed reverse sweeps, not one of his percentage strokes. Like Gill, he too batted deep into the day, wrapping it up with a pair of glorious pulls.
Besides, Ten Doeschate put forth the example of Sanju Samson, who Gautam Gambhir furnished a long rope and blossomed finally in the third T20I against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. Rohit Sharma, too, specified during the first Test that he wanted to give Rahul time to bed in at No.6, another pivotal spot. In his career, he has batted in most positions, from opening to No.3, 4 and 6.
This explains the team management’s rationale on giving him a longer rope.
He remains an important figure nonetheless — given his multitasking gifts. He could be the emergency-man anywhere in the order, apart from being the back-up wicket-keeper and bringing the experience of three tours to the country. The team management would be averse to packing him to Australia with an uncertain mind.
Gill at No.3
But at the same time, Gill occupies an important spot in the side, the No.3, the role he was growing into before the injury struck. After an uncertain time, where his vulnerability against the moving as well as turning balls were exposed, he fought back with a hundred against England in Visakhapatnam. Since then, he has compiled a pair of hundreds and a ninety in nine innings. With only two more Tests before the Australia series, it’s improbable that Kohli would continue at No.3 to accommodate Rahul down the order.
Moreover, India would want to nail down the top seven, before they land in Perth for the first Test.
So India are caught up with the continuity fix. Doeschate explained the headache: “We are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test. We will look at the pitch and decide what’s going to be best for the team. But at the same time, it’s a competitive environment,” he said.
The composition of the top-seven in Pune, thus, would offer a peep into Gambhir’s batting visions for Australia.
