Former cricketer Ricky Ponting opened up on India batter Shubman Gill’s poor form overseas and said that the 25-year-old needs to back himself a bit more to get results. In 12 Tests this year, Gill has scored 866 runs in 21 innings at an average of 45.52, with three centuries and three fifties each. In the last Gabba Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), the 25-year-old continued with his poor form and scored just one run from three balls in the first inning. In 12 Tests away from home, Gill has scored 616 runs in 22 innings at an average of 30.80, with one century and two fifties. His best score is 110.
However, in 10 Tests in SENA countries, he has scored just 481 runs in 19 innings at a sub-par average of 26.72, with two fifties that came during his debut Test tour in Australia, including the iconic knock of 91 at Brisbane which helped India win the series. Since that knock, in the next 13 innings, he has failed to score even a fifty.
Meanwhile, the youngster has a fine home record, with 1,177 runs in 17 matches and 31 innings at an average of 42.03, with four centuries and five fifties and best score of 128.
The fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Melbourne will begin on Boxing Day, with India chasing a win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship Final.
Speaking in the latest episode of The ICC Review, Ponting said that he loves watching Gill play.
“I love watching him play. When you’re watching him bat and bat well, he looks as good as anyone in world cricket. But the numbers don’t really stack up, do they, away from home?” Ponting was quoted by ICC as saying.
The former Aussie skipper added the Indian youngster needs to back his defensive technique in Australia.
“If anything, I think he needs to back himself a little bit more, needs to back his defensive technique a little bit more here in Australia and still find a way to be able to score and score quickly,” he added.
Ponting added that the 25-year-old is only thinking about scoring runs and not really about getting out.
“I’m sure when he’s at home or when he’s generally scored runs anywhere around the world, he scores them in a nice, attacking mode and almost to the point where he’s not really thinking about getting out – he’s only thinking about scoring runs. If he goes in with that mindset and that attitude, then things could change here in Melbourne for him,” Ponting further added.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Australia Squad: Pat Cummins (C), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (VC), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
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