A complete win from us – Shubman Gill on India’s dominant win against Afghanistan
India registered their biggest win in Test cricket, vanquishing Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs in Mullanpur. Indian captain Shubman Gill was the side's top scorer with an exhilarating 126 while another century from KL Rahul helped India post a mammoth total of 564/8 decl, which was 300 runs too many for the visitors.
Talking at the post-match presentation, Gill opened up on the win for the Indian team. He also revealed the conditions at play and what led him to make the call to enforce the follow-on. He also had special praise for the Indian spin troika of Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav.
Reflecting on the historic win in New Punjab, Gill said, “I think a complete win from us, ticked all the boxes. So very happy with that.”
Revealing the mindset behind enforcing the follow-on, Gill added, “It was very hot. We decided that if we get them before lunch or just after the first drinks, we'll see if the bowlers are fresh we'll give them a follow-on. If not, we'll bat a couple of sessions and maybe at the end of the day, we'll give them the ball again. But we got quick wickets, we came back. And also the way our fast bowlers bowled, Siraj got us that crucial wicket when we gave them a follow-on and Prasidh got three important wickets.”
Highlighting the special performance by the Indian spin trio, Gill stated, “The kind of quality, I think, Manav, Washi and Kuldeep has, all three of them, there was never any doubt. It's all about getting the experience and getting a number of overs and seeing, on wickets like these how to set the batsman up, keep varying the pace, keep testing the batsman in different areas.”
He concluded by talking about the young Indian team and the transition that they are in, adding, “I'd say pretty simple. When you're batting first innings, try to post 350 on the board every time you get into bat, no matter where we are playing, what kind of conditions it is. I think there's enough trust in our bowling group that we can take 20 wickets anywhere. Whenever there's a transition, we feel the batting group is under more pressure and we are trying to get experience. We're trying to build here to see what kind of game can work for us as a batting group and in different conditions and different situations. How we can keep posting regularly 350-400 totals on the board.”
