Indian batsman KL Rahul has spoken about young Shubman Gill’s poor form in Test cricket. He backed the right-hander to improve and said the Punjab batsman was already thinking about his game plan for the second Test.

Shubman Gill’s torrid run in Test cricket continues as he flopped in the first innings of the ongoing Test against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He came into bat in the last session of Day 1 after captain Rohit Sharma got out.

Shubman Gill appeared to be under pressure from the start but did well to save his ground in the final hour of the third session. He defended solidly but could not score runs freely. The batsman was expected to break out in the morning session on Day 2.

However, that was not the case as Shubman Gill got out in the first session of Day 2. The batsman got out for just 23 runs off 66 balls while playing false shots. He didn’t seem to have a good rhythm from the beginning because he was trapped in the box.

It was another bad run for the batsman in Test cricket. Shubman Gill has not scored a half-century in a Test since he smashed a ton against Australia in Ahmedabad earlier this year. His average has dropped to around 28 and his place on the team has been scrutinized.

KL Rahul, who scored a vital 86 runs, believes Shubman Gill batted well in session 3 of Day 1 as the need of the hour was to defend. He pointed out the young batsman’s mentality and said that sometimes it is difficult to break free. He added that Gill was just one shot away from breaking the shackles. Speaking to Jio Cinema, he explained:

“As for Shubman, I think he came in yesterday in a situation where he had to defend until the end of the day. Sometimes when you adopt a mindset like that, you may find it difficult to break free. And even today I can feel like he wanted a shot just to break the chains and just make him feel good.”

He is a top-class cricketer: KL Rahul on Shubman Gill

KL Rahul further praised Shubman Gill as a top-class cricketer and noted that the batsman plays well with spin. He feels the youngster needs to bring his white-ball class to Test cricket.

KL Rahul added that the lean phase comes for all batsmen, but he is sure Gill is already thinking about what he will do in his next innings. He added:

“Like I said, it will get better. He is a top-class cricketer. He plays spin very, very well. We have seen it in white-ball cricket. It’s time for him to learn from it.

“I mean, you know, I’m sure he didn’t want to get into a situation where he had to go over the top or he had to take a shot just to get free. But yeah, that happens to all hitters. And surely he is already there thinking about what he will do next.”

KL Rahul’s solid innings helped India take the lead in the first innings. After his wicket, Ravindra Jadeja (81*) played a decent knock and helped the team extend the lead to 175 runs.