Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has backed struggling Indian batter Shubman Gill after he yet again failed to impress in the second Test match. Gill, whose average has taken a hit in last 10 Test matches is struggling for form despite having a breakthrough in 2023. However, Pietersen has come to the batter’s aid and insisted that he could go on to achieve big things like former South Africa great Jacques Kallis who also had a poor start to his Test career.

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Pietersen backs Gill

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“Kallis averaged 22 in his first 10 Tests and turned out to be arguably the greatest player to play the game. Give Shubman Gill time to find it please. He’s a serious player,” Pietersen wrote on his X handle.

For the fifth time in his brief career, Gill was dismissed by James Anderson on 34 and was India’s second-highest scorer at Stumps on Day 1. The Indian batter has seen in slump in form after the ODI World Cup and has scored 166 runs in 11 innings with a best of 36 against South Africa in the first innings of the Cape Town Test in December. His average of 15 makes matters worse with India already struggling with injuries and key absentees. The Men in Blue have KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja injured while Virat Kohli is also unavailable due to personal reasons.

In 2023, Gill scored 258 runs in 10 Test innings including a hundred against Australia in March. In the limited-overs format, he enjoyed more success including a double ton against New Zealand in January. Altogether he scored 1584 runs in 29 matches including five hundreds in the ODIs while T20Is he scored 312 runs with a best of unbeaten 126.

What happened on Day 1?

After winning the toss, India decided to bat first having made two changes to the side that lost in Hyderabad. Rohit and Yashavi Jaiswal opened for the Indian side with Rajat Paitdar and Mukesh Kumar coming in as two changes. While Rohit was dismissed early, it was his partner Jaiswal who was the difference-maker as he scored an unbeaten 179 with wickets falling at consistent intervals.  India closed the day at 336/6 and will hope to cross 400 on the second day of the match.

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