WTC final: "I feel Shubman Gill is the most complete athlete I've seen" - Team India fielding coach R Sridhar

Team India fielding coach R Sridhar feels Shubman Gill is "the most complete athlete he has seen" and praised the opener's hand-eye coordination.

Shubman Gill has been picked in India's 20-man squad for the upcoming tour of England where they will first play against New Zealand in the World Test Championship final from June 18. Virat Kohli's team will then play a five-match Test series against the host nation in August.

Indian fielding coach R Sridhar was asked to explain how he picked the right fielding position for a new player like Shubman Gill.

"Talking about Shubman, I feel he is the most complete athlete I have seen. He is slim, tall, runs fast and has got good hand-eye coordination. On most occasions when a new player comes in - we know his strengths and weaknesses as we would have seen him play in the IPL or in India 'A'. My job as the fielding coach is to make sure his mindset is in tune with the national team. We also observe his hand-eye coordination, his reflexes, how good his hands are, his speed to the ball and ability to throw from the deep and ball sense," R Sridhar said in a chat with the Times of India.

Shubman Gill going with the Steve Waugh-style handkerchief #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/jkTed7vnH3

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 19, 2021

Shubman Gill is often seen as a close-in fielder at silly point when the spinners are operating.

Brad Hogg points out Shubman Gill's weakness in batting

Shubman Gill looks like a man on a mission 👀#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/cuUuglZfiu

— ICC (@ICC) January 19, 2021

In his short international career, Shubman Gill has proven his mettle following his exploits in Australia. Although the 21-year-old had a below-par home Test series against England, the Indian selectors have backed him for the upcoming tour.

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg recently highlighted Gill's weakness in batting while chatting with timesnownews.com:

"There is just one little weakness in his batting which I would be attacking. Whenever you can, you just try and let him play away from his body outside the off-stump. He sort of plays a half-cut half backfoot drive, you just got to try and expose that with the new ball. That's the only thing I see as his weakness. But the thing is, that's where he scores a lot of runs as well. There's no point in over-emphasizing that weakness if he is averaging 40 in that particular area with that particular shot."

Shubman Gill will likely partner Rohit Sharma at the top of the order when India take on New Zealand in the all-important World Test Championship final later this month.

Average of Indian batsmen in fourth innings in WTC 2019-21:Rishabh Pant - 98.5Shubman Gill - 74Virat Kohli - 72Good to see youngsters carrying Indian Team in this important phase+ Virat Kohli despite being out of form has performed exceptionally well pic.twitter.com/7ik9yLMfyL

— was 𝑵 𝑰 𝑻 𝑰 𝑵 (@virat_peak) May 30, 2021

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