'He has a solid defence, not just a solid attack'- Sunil Gavaskar showers praise on Shubman Gill after latter's impressive ton

India opener Shubman Gill had an excellent outing in the first innings of the fourth and final Test of the series against Australia. Gill was involved in a 74-run opening stand with Rohit Sharma and reached his half-century off 90 balls, putting India in a commanding position at lunch on Day 3.

Gill, who came into the playing XI at the expense of a struggling KL Rahul, had a bad outing in both innings of the third test with scores of 21 and 5.

Nevertheless, Gill put on a breathtaking display in Ahmedabad and received accolades from fans and even from the legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who heaped praise on the 23-year-old.

Gavaskar extols Shubman Gill

“He has a lot of time. When he plays a defensive shot, the way he bends forward, even against Mitchell Starc… he presents a straight face of the bat and plays a forward defence, it was so pleasing to see. It shows that he has confidence. He doesn't only play on the backfoot. His foot moves forward and he has a solid defence, not just a solid attack. And in Test cricket, you need that,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying during the post-lunch conversation on Star Sports.

“Shuffling back and forth against pace bowlers isn't very easy. But he picks the lines and lengths really well. Kisi bhi ballebaaz ke paas agar time ho, usne agar apne career ko sambhaala, toh aage jaake 8-10,000 run aaram se kar lega (If a batter has time, if he keeps his career in the right direction, he can easily score 8-10,000 runs in Tests),” Gavaskar added.

Gill's knock has given India an opportunity to remain in the ongoing fourth Test. India have to bat themselves out of crisis in the Test as they are still long way behind the visitors in terms of the first innings deficit. The hosts will be relying on Virat Kohli (59*) and Ravindra Jadeja (16*) to help them reach close to Australia's first innings score of 480.

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