Shubman Gill’s dismissal off a Kyle Jamieson delivery in the third ODI against New Zealand on Sunday in Indore became a huge talking point, something that the young aspiring cricketers can benefit from. Playing against a Kyle Jamieson delivery that was pitched just outside off, Gill went for the forward block only to see his stumps shattered.

It was an absolute peach of a delivery that nipped back in after pitching and went through the gap between bat and pad. Dissecting Gill’s dismissal, Sunil Gavaskar (on air) reiterated there was a big gap between his bat and pad. “The ball has come in, brushed the pads and then gone on to hit the stumps. But look at the gap between bat and pad,” he said.

However, Gavaskar got angry as he went deep into Gill’s dismissal, particularly elaborating the India captain’s back-lift that plays a crucial role in shot-making. Comparing Gill’s batting in England series and now, Gavaskar called the right-hander’s tactical changes “rubbish”.

“Now I heard somewhere , when he wasn’t getting runs before the start of this series, that he should have his back-lift come in from third man because that is the way to play in limited overs cricket. I have never heard more rubbish than that,” Gavaskar opined.

Although it is unclear whose suggestion Gavaskar tagged as “rubbish”, former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar gave insights of Gill’s tactical growth, speaking about the Indian captain’s backlift, in November last year, at a time when the Indian captain wasn’t getting runs.

Gavaskar compares Gill’s straight drive with that of Sachin & Kohli

Gavaskar compared Gill’s straight drives in England to that of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli and urged him to follow the basics. “You got to play exactly like you play normally. Your mindset has to change where you are looking to score off as many deliveries as possible.

“And the best chance is when you play with your technique you have at the Test match level. The moment you leave a gap between bat and pad, like Shubman Gill did because he was told, I don’t know whether he followed that. Shubman Gill scored 754 runs in England, his bat and pad were so close to each other,” elaborated Gavaskar.

“His defence looked impregnable, his straight driving was as good as Sachin Tendulkar at his best and as good as Virat Kohli’s.”

Meanwhile, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave a detailed explanation of what Gavaskar said on air, making it a more teacher-student affair. In a series of posts, Ashwin posted four pictures of Gill’s dismissal in different angles with a detailed explanation for each.

“Sunny bhai is talking about how Shubman’s bat was really close to the pad in England where he made all his runs,” Ashwin wrote on X. “I am going to try and illustrate the challenge for a modern day batter, the changes which happen automatically most of the times when you shift in & out of red ball cricket,” he added.

In the end, Ashwin let go Gill’s errors and described the Indian captain “faboulous”. “Gill is a fab player, this is not a huge mistake, this can happen due to lack of awareness most of the times because his natural habitat is the dominant usage of his bottom hand,” Ashwin concluded.