Gill draws discipline lessons from Rahane's masterclass; Starc rues dropped chances

After earning his Test debut, Indian opener Shubman Gill was given a baptism by fire at the fag end of the first day at MCG, but he showed composure and for both his and India’s good, had luck going for him, to combat the ever so challenging bowling line up of Australia.

He was beaten on numerous occasions by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood but he did not let it affect his mindset and played with just the kind of attitude the team management would have expected of him while they were taking the call on his inclusion in the side. 

He showed he has shots in his repertoire from both front and back foot. On the day he faced a stern examination by the Australian pacers, the young man from Fazilka in Punjab did not hold back his punches on the Boxing Day. He also said that he has been around the team set up for some time now and that gave him enough room for preparation to not have the feeling of finding himself in an all-new place, facing the likes of Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood.

"When I came in to bat, there was something in the pitch and the pitch was lively. The only thing which I told myself was that no matter what's happening on the pitch or what's happening around me, I should be able to play my game and I should be able to express myself, play with intent. That was my thought process throughout my innings,” Gill said in the virtual press conference after the end of the second day’s play in Melbourne. 

"I've been traveling with the team for the last four-five Test series. Being with the team, it helped me a lot. To be able to settle in the team. I've been doing all my net sessions and practice sessions, to be able to play someone like Boom (Bumrah), Shami bhai, Umesh bhai, or Ishant bhai in the nets. It's a huge confidence booster for a youngster to be playing against a top bowling attack in the nets. When I went out to bat today, I didn't really feel like I was in a whole new place."

Gill batted well for his brisk 45 and was looking set for a big one after successfully negotiating the new ball spells from the pacers on the first day and in the early phase of the first session of day two where he was tested a bit more by Cummins, who was bringing the deliveries into him sharply off the seam. Ultimately, Gill was defeated in the game of patience, as he was lured into driving at a delivery that was not full enough to be driven off the front foot, and anyway, Gill was rooted to the crease and attempted to drive it through the line without moving his feet at all. No wonder, a batsman of his caliber would be disappointed by that dismissal and Gill’s case was no different.

"I'm not really happy with the way I got out. It was the last ball of Cummins's spell and I should have seen it off. It was a loose shot to play at that moment. But overall my goal was to play with intent and build partnerships, and I managed it to an extent," Gill added.

He showed impeccable patience to deal with the pace attack while showing enough intent to take the full toll on anything that could have been called loose by the Australians. Gill has been a phenomenal batsman in the domestic circuit and for India A. For him, Ajinkya Rahane provided just the perfect template for a Test innings, by not flirting too much with danger. He needs to emulate this in his coming innings with the bat.

"This knock was all about patience. He was patient, and more importantly, when you are playing such a high-quality bowling attack, sometimes you go in that shell and you are not able to score runs. The way Ajinkya bhai played, it was such a magnificent knock to watch from outside. How to see off those tough periods? The loose balls that he was getting, he was making sure he was putting all of them away," Gill said in awe of Rahane’s unbeaten hundred.

The appreciation for Rahane’s splendid innings was not limited to the Indian camp as the hosts underlined the importance of his long resistance at the crease as well, although the further presence of Rahane at the crease might take the game completely away from their grasp. 

Mitchell Starc was called upon by Tim Paine with the second new ball to see the back of Rahane just like the first Test, and the Indian skipper gave as many as two chances against the second new ball. But Steve Smith and Travis Head turned out to be the culprits and dropped him to make the frustrating day into an agonising one for the hosts. The left armer also rued the number of missed opportunities but acknowledged that they were outsmarted by Rahane and his batting, as well as hurt by a bit of luck.

"He's batted really well there, he took his chances. We could have got him out maybe three, four or five times before he got to his hundred. He's run his luck there and scored a good hundred. So well done to him,” Starc said.

India have secured a lead of 82 runs with the skipper Rahane and Jadeja remaining unbeaten at the end of day two and the pitch holds the key for both teams as India would look to press on, especially with two spinners in the playing XI. But Starc ruled out outrageous help from the pitch and reckoned that the pitch is flattening out for the batsmen to enjoy batting on the third day.

"I think we found that once the ball got softer, the wicket's pretty flaccid. I think by the end of today, there were no demons in it anymore. I think it's a typical Melbourne (pitch), it flattens out. Even with that extra bit of grass than we're normally used to here, it's become a pretty flat wicket. So it's important for us when we get a chance again to bat really big and bat us into the game again,” Starc said of the MCG pitch where the curators had left 11 mm long grass to aid pacers.

But the Indian camp is banking on the pitch to aid more turn and in that case, the spinning duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin would be lethal for the Australian batting line up which looks jaded and unsure of their tactics. Shubman Gill made a reference to the help Ashwin and Jadeja were getting on the first day, along with the kind of purchase that Lyon could extract on day two, to suggest that the pitch will not be any easier to bat on against spinners.

"As you saw on the first day as well, there was a bit of turn for Ash [Ashwin] bhai and Jaddu [Jadeja] bhai. Today also, you could see there was a bit of turn for Nathan (Lyon). Obviously, there's going to be more cracks and the wicket is going to get more challenging for the batsmen. So it's really important for us to capitalise on this lead that we have and then to get them all-out as quickly as possible,” Gill added.

The visitor’s camp would be hoping for the unbeaten pair of Rahane and Jadeja to stay at the crease for at least one session and score another 80 odd runs to put the hosts under big pressure before unleashing their spin twins against them. If the pitch will offer assistance to the spinners, both Jadeja and Ashwin can spin a web around the Australian batting line up to justify the brave call his captain took by fielding both of them at the iconic MCG.

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