New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that skipper Shubman Gill showing his fiery side while being in a verbal exchange with England opener Zak Crawley didn’t have the right effect on his batting returns in the Lord’s Test, which the tourists’ lost by 22 runs.

The exchange between Gill and Crawley made for a spicy end to day three’s play and England duly gave it back when Gill came out to bat late on day four in a chase of 193. It was a curious stay in the crease for Gill, who never looked settled and was out for six to Brydon Carse.

“The thing with Virat Kohli was that he would get even more fired up and become a better batter (if things got nasty). What disappointed me with Shubman Gill and that is why I was wondering, where is Shubman Gill heading?”

“Because that seemed like it didn’t have the right effect on Shubman Gill the batter. He came out looking very tentative and, you know, these days we are privy to the stump mic and we could hear the things being said and there were some personal attacks made.”

“This could be a new experience for Shubman Gill because these days, as you can see, you know, with Indian players, there’s mostly friendly reception from a lot of foreign teams. So this was new territory. And he looked tentative and wasn’t up for it,” said Manjrekar on ESPNCricinfo.

Manjrekar also hinted that Gill might have showed his aggressive version at Lord’s only because he scored 269 and 161 in the previous Test in Birmingham. “And just to extend on that point, if Shubman Gill had that kind of a fiery side to him, we would have seen it a little earlier. You don’t have to show it when you’re captain. Or did he show it because he’s got this confidence now that he’s won a Test match and he’s got so many runs?”

“Because with Virat Kohli, you could see that he was ready for a scrap. He was always waiting to get in the thick of things. Even when he wasn’t a captain, you could see him coming in there. So that was a trait that we’d seen even before he was captain. With Shubman Gill, I’ve never seen it before,” he added.

–IANS

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