Playing in his first Test series as a captain, Shubman Gill not only became the top run getter in the Anderson-tendulkar Trophy with an aggregate of 754 runs at an average of 75.40 but also led the Indian fightback in the series with the six-run win at The Oval on Monday resulting in the series being tied 2-2. With England needing 35 runs with four wickets in hand, Indian team were led by pacers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna as England fell short by six runs from the 374-run target. Gill has hailed the ‘young’ Indian Test team and shared how they wanted to be a ‘gun team’ and showed it on Monday.
“It means so much. This was a very hard-fought series. Both teams throwing punches and you could never really predict after day four who was going to win the match. We are a young team but before the start of the series, we spoke about how we didn’t want to be looked at as a young team. We wanted to be a gun team and I think we showed that today. (On Test cricket) Nothing beats it. It’s the most rewarding format. You work so hard over five days and even before the Test starts, there’s so many mental and physical challenges in this format. Once you’re able to succeed, it’s the most satisfying and rewarding format,” Gill told BBC’s Test Match Special.
England looked set to win the series 3-1 with Joe Root and Harry Brook taking the team to 3-1 for 3 at one stage on Sunday chasing the 374-run target. But with Indian pacers taking four wickets in the last one hour of the play and reducing England to 339 for 6 at the end of the fourth day’s play. It meant that the match went into the final day. With Brook and Joe Root falling against Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna on the fourth day, Gill talked about the Indian pacer’s plans and how they pulled things after the fall of Harry Brook led by Siraj and Krishna.. “This is cricket. You never know. Once you’re in the game, you want to be ruthless as possible and not give the opposition any bit of of space but with a couple of wickets after Brook, we had that little bit of space and it’s never easy with the ball swinging and the pressure on the opposition, not easy to bat, so we wanted to make sure they kept feeling the pressure. The spell from Siraj and Prasidh really changed the game for us and those are the ones that kept believing we can pull this game through. With 60, 70-odd runs to win with seven wickets in hand you don’t get to see many games like this. Very happy to get this over the line, a little bit of luck for us,” shared Gill.
Gill also reiterated Gambhir’s mantra for the Indian team to be seen as a gun team with an interaction with Cheteshwar Pujara.
“Before this series, Gauti bhai said one thing. ‘We are a young team, but we don’t want to be seen as a young team… we want to be seen as a gun team.’ Today we showed why we are a gun team and why we have so much potential. Irrespective of where we are playing, we want to be able to give our best. And give everything, give ourselves the best opportunity to win a Test match anywhere in the world,” he said on Sony Sports.
With England all-rounder Chris Woakes being injured on the first day of The Oval Test having dislocated his shoulder, the final day also saw Woakes coming out to bat after the fall of the wicket of Josh Tongue with 17 runs still needed. Siraj would remove Atkinson two overs later to spark off Indian celebrations. Gill also hailed Woakes’ effort on the final day. “Very, very brave. I didn’t expect him to come out like that, batting with one hand, the other in the sweater, but good on him for showing that courage.” Gill said.
