20 wickets and batting depth: Gill eyes ideal combination on potentially high-scoring English tracks

Birmingham: Less than 24 hours before the second Test, India captain Shubman Gill said the team management has not yet locked in a combination that allows them to take 20 wickets and score runs on potentially flat wickets in the unusually hot English summer.

Gill also did not commit to premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah playing at Edgbaston despite being “available for selection”.

The clarity, however, was provided on his preference for a second spinner over a pacer especially with the old Dukes ball making run scoring a lot easier for the opposition.

“Bumrah bhai is definitely available. We are trying to find the right combination where we can take 20 wickets and score runs as well on these kind of wickets. We just thought we are going to have a final look today once we come to the ground and see what kind of combination that we want to go with tomorrow,” Gill said on the eve of the second Test.

“Our first priority would always be on these kind of wickets, how we can get 20 wickets rather than playing that extra batter,” he added.

India missed a second spinner on day five at Leeds and they seem to have made up their mind to add either Washington Sundar or Kuldeep Yadav to the playing eleven alongside Ravindra Jadeja.

Picking Washington will be a conservative choice while Kuldeep would be an attacking option.

“It is not usual to play two spinners here but we have not had typical weather here. There has not been enough rain. In the last match also, we felt that if we had an extra spinner in the 4th innings, the game could have been better,” said Gill.

“There were some patches in the wicket that we could have exploited. Whenever Jaddu Bhai was bowling, we felt that chances were being created.

“We felt that it is easier to contain the runs for spinners than for fast bowlers, especially when the ball is old. In these conditions, the ball does not swing as much after 30-40 overs.

“If fast bowlers are not able to create as many chances for fast bowlers, we feel that maybe a second spinner on these kinds of wickets will at least contain runs until the second new ball arrives, where there are more chances,” said Gill.

How to manage a second spinner?

A host of former players have called for Kuldeep’s inclusion in the playing eleven.

Gill admitted that it is tough indeed to leave the wrist spinner on the bench.

“They are difficult calls for sure. If you are going with an extra spinner, the only thing that you have to see is how you manage him on day 1 if you are bowling. And ideally, if at all there is anything on these kinds of wickets, it is on day 1 in the first session or first couple of sessions.

“So, taking a call on that and seeing how you would manage your second spinner, especially on day 1, is the main call that you have to take on these kinds of wickets,” said India’s new number four.

In the backdrop of two lower-order batting collapses, Gill also needs to maintain a fine balance between batting and bowling depth.

“Ideally, you would want to have your batting depth till 7 or if your 8 can bat a little bit. But if you are going till 9, I think it is difficult to take 20 wickets on these kind of wickets that we are playing on.

“If we are able to go with 4 or 5 premier bowlers with maybe a 6th bowling option and then have our batting till 7 or 8, that would be a good combination for us,” felt Gill.

Perennial struggles of lower-order

India’s tail copped plenty of criticism for their lack of application at Leeds as the visitors squandered the advantage twice with the bat.

The issue has been discussed at length in the dressing room.

“It's been one of the things that we always talk about, especially with our batting depth that our lower order sometimes isn't able to contribute as much as the other teams.

“But having said that, you can also look at the other side as well. I was batting on 147 and the way I got out, maybe I could have scored 50 more runs in partnership with Rishabh.

“If you get a good ball and you get out, that's fine. But once you are set and you know that you don't really have that much depth in your batting order, maybe the top order could take a little bit of more responsibility and bat (the opposition) completely out of the game.

“But definitely your lower order, when your last five or six doesn't contribute as much, then it becomes easier for the opposition to come back in the game,” said Gill.

Learnings as captain

In his first Test as captain, Gill had plenty to explore and learn with the bat and in the field.

“A lot of lessons. Like when we were batting, I felt I could have, now looking back at it, the kind of shot that I played, I felt I could have batted a little bit more,” he said.

“When we were bowling, there were learnings like once the ball is getting old and it's getting soft, there isn't much happening. So how would you contain or how would you control the run flow, especially with the way they bat? “Like I mentioned, maybe having an extra spinner might help contain that run flow, especially in the third or in the fourth innings,” he noted.