"He can't just be a boundary hitter" - Simon Doull analyzes Shubman Gill's failure to convert starts in 2nd India vs New Zealand Test

Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull has opined that Shubman Gill needs to stop throwing away good starts and must convert them into big knocks at the Test level. Doull stated that while Gill looks mentally sound, he has to learn to accumulate runs.

22-year-old Gill was dismissed for 40s in both innings of the Mumbai Test. In the first Test in Kanpur, he registered scores of 52 and 1. The ongoing Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium is his 10th match in the longer format of the game. Gill has so far scored 558 runs at an average of 32.82.

Discussing Gill’s performances in his short Test career so far, Doull agreed that the youngster needs to do more to justify his place in the team. He told Dinesh Karthik during a discussion on Cricbuzz:

“He’s got to now start converting starts. He has got enough changes, he has played enough first-class cricket and he’s got to start producing the numbers.”

The former cricketer stated that Gill needs to apply himself a lot more to succeed in Test cricket. The 52-year-old elaborated:

“He needs to realize that a Test match century is hard, it won’t come along easily. The first one is probably the toughest one you will ever make. He needs to learn and figure out a way to accumulate runs. He’s got to work those ones. He can’t just be a boundary hitter. He puts the bad ball away but he needs to keep the good balls out. He’s got to learn to rotate the strike when times are tough. That is one of the key things for Shubman Gill.”

Gill edged Ajaz Patel to slip after scoring 44 in the first innings of the Mumbai Test. In the second innings, he slashed a short ball from Rachin Ravindra to short cover while being three short of a fifty.

“Question of putting mind over matter” - Dinesh Karthik on how Shubman Gill can convert starts

Sharing his views, Karthik stated that Gill has all the qualities to succeed at the top level. According to him, the young opener needs to display greater patience while approaching a personal landmark.

The wicketkeeper-batter said:

“He is doing all the hard things very easily - getting a start or playing fast bowling. When the ball is turning, he has the ability to use his feet. All the prerequisites of a good batter are there. But then, he is getting out to soft shots lot of times. From the little that I have heard, he is one of those few cricketers who averaged 100 during his U-19 days. So he has the ability to get big hundreds. It is a question of putting mind over matter and moving past those landmarks slowly.”

Gill did not field on Day 3 of the Mumbai Test owing to a finger injury he picked up while fielding in the first innings. Meanwhile, India reduced New Zealand to 140 for 5 by Stumps on Sunday after setting them a target of 540.