Shubman Gill and his team were cheekily made fun of by former India head coach Ravi Shastri for their bad catching during the first Test match against England at Headingley in Leeds. In reference to India’s historic victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, Shastri made a joke about the captain purchasing a non-greasy hand sanitizer from a pharmacy to make sure catches adhered to the fielders’ hands.
India dropped up to six catches in the first innings in Leeds, and two in the second. Yashasvi Jaiswal, the opener, dropped four of the catches, making him the primary offender. But in the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the visitors put on a considerably better all-around performance, winning by a record 336 runs.
Ravi Shastri made a pretty odd remark regarding India’s performance in Birmingham while participating in a debate on Sky Sports with Dinesh Karthik, Nasser Hussain, and Michael Atherton. He joked:
“The best thing he [Gill] did over those six days, seven days off, he went to the pharmacy and he got a non-greasy hand sanitizer so the catches don’t slip; they stick. He said, ‘I am going to get something that sticks properly into your hands’. Just put that, hold your catches, you win matches.”
In the second Test match against England, India did miss a few catches as well, but the majority of them were difficult opportunities. They were far superior in the field overall and took advantage of the most of the possibilities that presented themselves.
“You come out there and bat like Bradman” – Ravi Shastri’s massive praise for Shubman Gill
On a serious note, Shastri praised Gill for his outstanding performances with the bat in the current series against England. He made the following observation after comparing the Indian captain’s efforts to those of Australian batting great Sir Don Bradman:
“The best by a captain. 10 out of 10. You can’t ask for more from a captain. You are 1-0 down in the series. You come out there and bat like Bradman. 269, 161 and you end up winning the game. Your captaincy was very reactive in the first Test match. You almost followed the ball. You were very proactive in the next game.”
Ravi Shastri
“The first time I saw him, I said, this is class. I’ve seen Tendulkar first time, caught your imagination. Kohli of course. And this broke.”
Ravi Shastri
Shubman Gill has already eclipsed Virat Kohli’s record for most runs by an Indian batter in his debut series as Test captain, with 585 runs in four innings in the current series against England. During the 2014–15 Australian tour, Kohli scored 449 runs in four innings.
