Aakash Chopra believes that Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer may lose their spots in India’s Test team if they can’t deliver big scores in the ongoing second Test’s second innings against England.
India scored 336/6 at the end of Day 1 in Visakhapatnam on Friday, February 2. Gill and Iyer added 34 and 27 runs each, but it was Yashasvi Jaiswal who shone, remaining not out with a whopping 179.
In a video posted to his YouTube account, Chopra said that Gill and Iyer may have one more shot to make the Test XI. He said:
“Time is running out very fast for Gill and Iyer. They have one more knock and I really hope that they score runs because if their next knocks don’t go good, the problems will become grave for both of them.”
Aakash Chopra
The former India opener noted that Gill struggled against James Anderson despite getting off to a solid start. He elaborated:
“Shubman Gill got a start. He played slightly aggressively at the start for sure but after that, he got three edges in James Anderson’s two overs. The third edge carried to the keeper as well and he got out. He wasted a good start. 34 runs is not going to be enough.”
Aakash Chopra
Gill edged Anderson for boundaries with the penultimate ball of the 27th over and the first delivery of the 29th over. He got another edge off the fifth delivery of the 29th over and was caught by Ben Foakes behind the wickets.
“The way he was moving around wasn’t giving much confidence” – Aakash Chopra on Shreyas Iyer
Aakash Chopra was not satisfied by Shreyas Iyer’s footwork against James Anderson. He explains:
“Shreyas Iyer also gave a disappointing performance. The way he was moving around wasn’t giving much confidence. You generally don’t move around like that against a fast bowler in Test cricket.”
Aakash Chopra
The cricketer-turned-commentator noted that the Mumbai batsman appeared awkward, despite the fact that he was not facing fast pace. He stated:
“He was moving a lot even though there wasn’t much pace in the short balls and eventually he got out. You can say the ball stayed a little low and that he was slightly unlucky, but he was not stable on the crease.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra observed that Rohit Sharma, too, did not live up to expectations on a calm surface. He finished by expressing disappointment with Rohit, Gill, and Iyer’s performances.