I worked on my defence a little bit more – Shubman Gill on his recent preparations

The last Test series against England saw Shubman Gill fare decently at home, where he scored 452 runs at an average of 56.50, registering two centuries and two half-centuries. Ahead of that, he had an average of 30.59 in Test cricket despite being off to a sensational start.

Speaking ahead of the opening fixture of the Duleep Trophy at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Gill talked about the changes that he has been working on in recent times to improve his batting techniques. In the pre-match presser ahead of India’s domestic season opener for 2024-25, Gill , who is captaining India A, talked extensively about how he has worked on fine tuning some batting aspects.

Gill said, “I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners. Playing on turning tracks, if you are not able to have that confidence in your defence [then it disturbs your game]. If you're playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more. [It is] then you play scoring shots.”

He further added, “And with more T20 [cricket], and playing on, I wouldn't say flat tracks, but [on] batting-friendly tracks - [and] more in the white-ball [games] - I feel it takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series."

Looking ahead to India’s Test schedule, he opined, “Yes, definitely, I haven't reached my expectations yet. But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations."