“There was precision in his footwork” - Sachin Tendulkar hails Shubman Gill as batter and captain

Former legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar has heaped praise on the newly appointed Indian Test captain for his calm and composed approach with the bat and as a captain on the England tour as India levelled the series 2-2.

Furthermore, Sachin stated that it felt like Gill had an extra time to play the ball whenever he was batting in the recently concluded series, adding that there was precision in his footwork. Notably, Gill concluded the series as the leading run-scorer with 754 runs from five Tests.

“Captaincy has a lot to do with how the bowlers are bowling, how disciplined they are and how long they can persist with their plans. Sometimes, what happens is that if things are not going the bowlers’ way, they start experimenting. That is when the captain feels that the fielders he has on the ground are not enough, he needs more, because runs will be coming from everywhere,” said Tendulkar in a video on Reddit.

“He still looked calm and composed, but when partnerships happen, it becomes difficult for any captain, and the priority becomes to dry their runs,” he added.

“Overall, I felt he controlled the team well. There were areas things could’ve been different but, everyone has their opinion. This was his first series and possibly against the most attacking side in Test cricket. I don’t think any other team bats the way this England side does,” he observed.

In the just-concluded series, Gill accumulated four centuries in five Tests, which included a double century. Additionally, Sachin added that the most important thing he noticed was the way Gill respected good balls.

“Shubman batted brilliantly throughout the series, he looked calm and composed. When it comes to quality batting, you’ve got to have a clear head and a game plan. And he was extremely consistent as far as his thought process is concerned because it reflects on your footwork. If you are not clear in your head, your body doesn’t respond accordingly. His body responded brilliantly, he looked so much control he had so much time to play the ball.

“There was precision in his footwork. The most important thing that I noticed was the respect to a good ball. Where the tendency sometimes is to push the ball on your front foot even if the ball is not near your foot, he was able to defend there. And consistently defend well on front foot. His ability to leave was very good. Overall, shot selection was very, very good and precise,” he concluded.

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