Shubman Gill "As Good As" Virat Kohli: Post England Show, Comes Blunt Verdict From Ex-Coach

Despite being without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, India's batting hardly struggled in England. In fact, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and even allrounders like Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar stood up in a memorable campaign. "Shubman Gill (754 runs), KL Rahul (532) and Ravindra Jadeja (516), India's batters became just the sixth trio in Test history to pass 500 runs in the same series," according to ICC. When asked if India found a new batting core after the retirements of Kohli and Rohit, former batting coach Sanjay Bangar's reply was quite insightful. 

"Who were they replacing? If you look at the No. 4 spot, Shubman Gill has done as good as a Virat Kohli could have done. And who has taken Rohit Sharma's place? It is Yashasvi Jaiswal and he has also had an equally good series to show for. Because Gill and Jaiswal got the runs, the Indian team never missed the services of Rohit and Virat," he said on ESPNCricinfo.

He added that India needed a stable fast-bowling all-rounder in Tests for the playing XI combination to settle down. In England, they tried Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy. They could not leave significant impact.   

"The Indian management has prioritised that over the last three to four seasons. But, you want to have a fast-bowling all-rounder and if India does get that, then the combination will settle itself. Till the time India gets a proper fast-bowling all-rounder, you'll always have these question marks," he said.

Bangar also praised KL Rahul. "He certainly looked the part and added to whatever he has done as a batsman by consuming a lot of balls and being very consistent throughout, the kind of slip catching we could see from him and being an able ally to Shubman Gill at times. You could also see a side of KL Rahul which wasn't seen earlier, where he was having a lot of chats with the opponents and the umpires at times," said Bangar.

Topics mentioned in this article

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