Indian captain Shubman Gill revealed why he and the team management decided to enforce the follow-on against the West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. The home team registered a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in the end but the bowlers had to toil hard for almost 200 overs.
West Indies were bowled out for 248 runs in the first innings after India declared at 518-5. Thus, India had a healthy lead of 270 runs and invited the visitors to bat again. Gill said they thought it could be tricky to bowl on the fifth day if they had needed five to six wickets to win as the track was on the slower side.
Shubman Gill said in the post-match presentation, “We were around 300 runs ahead. We thought even if we scored like 500 runs and we have to get 6 or 7 wickets on day 5, it could be a tough day for us. So, that was the thought process.”
Meanwhile, Gill scored an impressive knock of 129 runs in the first innings to continue his rich form. Gill had also scored 50 runs in the first innings of the opening Test at Ahmedabad.
Gill added he only focuses on his batting when he is there in the middle and doesn’t think much as a captain, “Batting is something that I’ve been doing since I was 3 or 4 years old. So, when I want to go out there, I just want to make decisions as a batsman. The one thing that you always strive for is how can you make your team win a match. And as a batsman, when I’m going out there, that’s the only thought that I have.”
On the other hand, Nitish Kumar Reddy was promoted to number five in the first innings but didn’t bowl a single over in Delhi. Gill added they want to groom certain players for overseas conditions.
He concluded, “He didn’t really get to bowl in this match, but we don’t want players to only play matches overseas. That puts a lot of pressure on the players. We want to groom certain players that we think can help us win matches overseas because that’s been a challenge for us.”
Gill will next lead India in a three-match ODI series against Australia, starting Sunday.
