Michael Clarke hails Shubman Gill, says he is impressed with the way Indian captain has worked hard on defense

Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke has showered praise on Shubman Gill for his outstanding performance in the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Gill batted at his absolute best in the first innings as he scored a magnum opus knock of 269 runs.

Furthermore, the Indian captain backed it with another impressive knock of 161 runs off just 162 balls in the second innings. Thus, the right-hander aggregated a total of 430 runs in the match, which is the second highest total in a Test match.

Clarke praised Gill for leading from the front in the ongoing series against England and the only way for a captain to earn respect of his teammates, is by scoring truckload of runs, which Gill has done in the first two matches.

Michael Clarke said on Beyond23 Cricket podcast, “He’s looked in a very comfortable position – front foot, back foot, defense, attack, dominates spin always. I’ve been super impressed with the way he’s batted in English conditions. I think that as a captain, that’s probably the most important thing you can do is – if you’re a bowler, take wickets, if you’re a batsman, score runs. That’s the best way to earn respect.”

“The skipper, Oh my god! Shubman Gill. I think a lot of people expected him to perform with the bat. He’s a very good batsman, full of talent, got all the shots. There’s no doubt about him. I think we’ve seen that for a while in T20 cricket, but the way he’s played, mentally, physically, gets through batting long periods… I’ve been really impressed with his defense. I think it’s one area; it looks like he’s worked extremely hard on it. The other thing you can see is he’s watching the ball so closely,” he added.

The 2015 World Cup winning captain said Gill was spot on as a leader in the second innings and noted he had the right field for the spinners.

Clarke added, “Tactically, he was improving in the second Test match. You’ve got 600 runs on the board, so that obviously helps, but I think in the second innings at Edgbaston, the way he brought spin into the attack, even Jadeja, early on in the Test match. Washington Sundar gets that big wicket of Ben Stokes just before lunch.”

“I think he used his spinners well. I think he attacked in the right areas. He gave the bowlers protection where they needed it to allow them to bowl those wicket-taking balls… I think he read his bowlers really well. Tactically, that’s most important,” he added.

The third Test match between India and England will be played at Lord’s, London from 10th July onwards.