Shubman Gill does not have the feel for spinners: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Shubman Gill does not have a feel for the spinners. Manjrekar made his comments after India faltered on Day 3 of the Pune Test match, surrendering the Test series to New Zealand.

In Short

• India lost the Test series vs New Zealand
• India batters were bowled out for 245 in the 2nd innings
• Sanjay Manjrekar criticised India batters

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar blamed the Indian team's inability to play spin for their series defeat against New Zealand. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo after the Pune Test defeat, Manjrekar said that if the top batters in the Indian team were more confident against spin, India might have come real close to the target in the Pune Test. Manjrekar targeted Shubman Gill in particular, stating that the batter did not have a feel for the spinners.

The Indian team, despite a strong start from Yashasvi Jaiswal, collapsed from 120/2 to 245-all-out, after Jaiswal got out for 77 in the 22nd over of the game. An unfortunate run-out of Rishabh Pant meant that the Indian batting-order folded against the New Zealand spinners, leaving Ravindra Jadeja in a precarious position with the tail. While Jadeja scored 42 off 84 balls, India were nowhere close to the target in Pune.

Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar said that 3 out of the top 4 Indian batters were not comfortable playing spin.

"When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches," Manjrekar said.

"Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease. There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half. I think that if India backed their defence a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around," he further added.

With the loss, India have put themselves in a precarious position and need to win at least 4 out of their next 6 Test matches to ensure qualification for the World Test Championship Final. India have 1 Test match left against New Zealand, and 5 against Australia, for which they will tour Down Under in November.