Shubman Gill faced a torrid time during India’s opener against Pakistan in the Asia Cup in Pallekele.
Having poked around for 32 balls for his 10 runs, he finally inside edged Haris Rauf on to the stumps. The India opener struggled against both Shaheen Afridi’s pace and left-arm over-the-wicket angle and Naseem Shah’s hard-length deliveries.
Determined to make amends, Gill faced Nuwan Seneviratne, India’s left-arm throwdown specialist, during nets to get his footwork right against deliveries straightening into him.
“Shaheen swings the ball more. Naseem relies more on pace,” Gill said on Saturday, the eve of their Super Fours clash against Pakistan in Colombo. “If he gets help from the surface, he hits good areas. Both are different bowlers and pose different challenges.
“Before getting to (international) level, every batter would have faced left-arm bowling at some stage. Whenever you play a new bowler it makes a difference, (more so) because we don’t play Pakistan as often as we do some other teams. Coming up against a quality bowling attack like Pakistan’s makes a difference.
“Sometimes there’s no technical flaw as such. Bowlers are also there to bowl, and you might get some good deliveries. You might get some unfortunate dismissals. When you are playing well there might be a few things going your way. You have to trust your game, back yourself and get those quick runs.”
He felt working with the throwdown specialist would help him in match situations.
“(Seneviratne) has been with us for the past seven-eight years,” Gill said.
“We have two right-arm throwdown side-arm specialists, and as a variation, we also have a left-arm side-arm specialist. It helps in various conditions.”
Gill said that Indian batters will have to dominate unlike last time when the top order was blown away for 66.
“As openers, we need to make a good start and dominate them from the beginning,” Gill said.
He acknowledged his partnership with captain Rohit Sharma would be crucial.
“He (Rohit) is someone who likes to take on the bowlers more aerially and I like playing along the ground in the Powerplay. That combination works well for us. We both are a bit different, how we go about our shots and tackle the situations. That makes it a bit difficult for opposition to contain us,” said Gill.
