Need to put big 1st innings score: India batter Shubman Gill

Brisbane: India batter Shubman Gill says the need to put up a big first innings total has been the talking point among his team’s batters ahead of the third Test against Australia and each one of them has devised a plan to make it happen at the Gabba.

Gill didn’t play the first Test due to a finger injury but looked good in his brief innings of 31 and 28 during the Pink Ball Test at Adelaide which India lost by 10 wickets.

“As a batting group, we are looking to post a big total first up. That’s been the key discussion and every batter has his own game plan,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference.

India have had at least six scores of 150 or less in recent times and Gill admitted that the piece of stat isn’t lost upon the batting group. He said it is now a three-match series for his side.

“Adelaide Test, we didn’t do well but the series is still 1-1. We will treat it as a three-match Test series and if we win this one, we will have advantage going into Melbourne and Sydney,” Gill said.

Skipper Rohit Sharma didn’t come for the optional training session and when asked about his absence, Gill replied: “This was an optional session and he has already practised a lot.”

Recently, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had criticised out-of-form players for not turning up in optional net sessions despite having enough breaks in between matches.