Shubman Gill opens up on how advice by senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli helped him face swing in England

India’s young opener Shubman Gill became the centre of appreciation on day two of the World Test Championship Final as he faced the pace attack of New Zealand skillfully. He was seen showing sheer class by supporting experienced Rohit Sharma at the other end. He played swing very well and opened up on how he got used to playing in those conditions.

Firstly, he added that he belongs to the North region of India, and playing on those conditions from the starting of his career developed him to battle out swing well. He went on to add that, conversations with India’s ace batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, helped him to make his game better in similar conditions.

“I play at North (India). Whenever we used to play Ranji Trophy matches there, it’s a bit like this – it’s cold out there, and the ball seams. So, it’s something that I used to do and grew up developing with my game,” said Gill as quoted by KKR’s official website.

Gill stated that advice from Kohli and Sharma helped him a lot in English conditions. He added that Rohit told him how to stand outside the crease and negotiate on the swing. Though Gill couldn’t convert his great start into big numbers, he earned a lot of appreciation for showing resilience against pacers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee in the initial hours of the second-day match.

The English conditions were against us: Shubman Gill

“I have spoken to them quite a lot, especially Rohit bhai and a few bowlers as well who have played in England. Some of the key points that Virat bhai and Rohit bhai told me were to stand outside the crease and try to negotiate the swing as much as I can.

“I got off to a good start but I would have really like had I gotten a fifty or more than that. But I think we got off to a good start. The conditions were against us. At the end of the day, it’s all about scoring runs. It was important for us to have the intent to score runs wherever we got the opportunity,” Gill concluded.