Young Indian opener Shubman Gill is all set to lead India A in the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024, which begins on September 5. Ahead of the season-opener, Gill revealed that he has improved his defensive skills against spin bowlers.
He mentioned that on curved tracks, it is crucial to be skilled in defence to counter bowlers effectively before attempting heavy shots. Gill also warned that the frequency of T20 cricket on batting-friendly pitches can sometimes diminish a player’s defensive skills.
Shubman Gill ready for Duleep Trophy 2024 with improved defensive techniques
The right-handed batsman has therefore focused on fine-tuning his defensive technique during the series against England. Gill admitted that he has not yet shone in Test cricket but hopes to succeed in the next 10 matches if he gets the chance with his renewed approach to batting.
Shubman Gill was quoted by PTI as saying, “I worked a little bit more on my defence against spin bowlers. You should be able to defend a lot more when you play on a turning track against spin bowlers, then you can play the shots that score. With more T20s being played… I won’t say on flat tracks, but on batting-friendly tracks, I think it takes away a little bit from your defensive game. So that was my approach in the England series.”
He further added: “So far in Test cricket my performance has not been up to my expectations. But we are going to play 10 Test matches this season and when I look back after those 10 matches, I hope my expectations will be up to par.”
We will see good competition in Duleep Trophy 2024: Gill
Gill believes that the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024 will be a great opportunity to adapt to the demands of red-ball cricket and hopes that fans will have a great battle in the tournament.
He added: “This is a big tournament as every match is important for us. We will be playing against some players we normally play with in the Indian team, so we will see some good competition.”
On managing the workload of Indian players, Gill said: “No doubt the selectors and the players talk about workload but I think everyone has played a lot of cricket to be able to understand what they have to do when they play a match, more so for the bowlers I would say. I am sure the bowlers have spoken to the selectors about how they are going to manage their workload.”
Notably, Gill, who confirmed that Prasidh Krishna will not play the first match of the tournament, finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the five-match Test series against England with 452 runs at home.
He is now eager to try out tweaks to his game in the Duleep Trophy ahead of the home Test series against Bangladesh.
India A squad for Duleep Trophy 2024:
Shubman Gill (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa , Kumar Kushagra (week), Shaswat Rawat.