‘You will find it difficult to get a place once…’ – Former Indian cricketer targets Shubman Gill after his poor performance in Test series

Shubman Gill failed to score in the first innings of the first Test against Bangladesh at Chattogram as he was dismissed to Taijul Islam after scoring only 20 runs. The talented opener got a place in the XI after skipper Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the first Test after sustaining a thumb injury. 

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif feels that Shubman is not performing according to his potential in Test cricket as he has not scored a single century in 22 innings so far in his career. Kaif revealed that Shubman will not find a place in the XI when the Men in Blue skipper will return to the side.

“You were set and you are opening. You will find it difficult to get a place once Rohit Sharma comes back. He has not scored a single century. He has played 22 innings. He has a highest score of 91, he has reached there but not scored a century,” Kaif said on Sony Sports.

He is an attacking batter and does not like to play dot balls: Mohammad Kaif

Kaif recommended that as an opener you have to convert your starts into big scores but the 23-year-old failed to do so on Wednesday. “As an opener, you want that once you are set, when you reach 20 or 30, you play a big knock. Virat Kohli got out at the start. We are saying it’s okay because he couldn’t judge the line but Shubman Gill was set, had played a lot of deliveries,” he added.

The commentator pointed out that the Fazilka-born cricketer has a sublime record in first-class cricket and has scored consistently well in the limited opportunities he got in ODIs. “Shubman Gill is a good player. He has an exceptional record if we talk about first-class cricket, he has an average of 50, scores a lot of runs. He is in very good form as well and came here after consistently scoring runs in ODIs.”

Shubman appears to play aggressively, according to Kaif, who also advised him to execute his shots properly after spending time in the center of the field. “He is an attacking batter and does not like to play dot balls. He tries to invent a new shot when you bowl dot balls. The modern players play the lap shot he played but he will have to get perfection in his shots once he gets set. Overall, the runs are less if we see his track record in Test cricket,” he added.