"When player of his calibre...": Gill on Bumrah's absence from 4th Test

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], February 21 : While the hosts will take the momentum from its massive win in the third Test into the next fixture at Ranchi from Friday, star India batter Shubman Gill on Wednesday said the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will take away a measure of quality and incisiveness from the bowling attack.
However, he insisted that all bowlers that India have decided to go with for the Ranchi Test have enough experience to do well in Indian conditions.
With India leading the series 2-1, the think-tank opted to rest premier paceman Bumrah.
Speaking to the media persons ahead of the match, Gill said, "When a player of his calibre does not play, the team does get affected. Bumrah leads our bowling attack. But the way Siraj bowled in the last Test, took four wickets at a crucial time (in the first innings), gives us confidence and belief going into the Rajkot Test. I believe all our bowlers have the experience of doing well in Indian conditions. They have the necessary skill-sets to employ reverse swing."
Gill said the team's strategy will be the same for the fourth Test, adding that the brilliance of the Indian pacers was one of the highlights for the hosts in the third Test and was the difference between the two sides.
"In India, wherever we play, spinners get a bit of help. Our strategy will stay the same. It also depends on who wins the toss. The way our pacers are bowling gives us a lot of belief. Our spinners take wickets all the time but the performance of our pacers has been the difference between the two sides," Gill said.
Refuting the contention that only one Indian batter, Yashaswi Jaiswal, was scoring the bulk of the runs for the hosts in the ongoing series, the lanky middle-order batsman said the hosts posted totals of around 400 or more in all three games, with different batters putting their hands up and delivering the goods at different times in the series.
"We are ahead 2-1 in the series. We scored about 400 in the first innings of all three Tests so far. No batter can score runs every time he goes out to the middle. During the first Test, two to three guys scored 80-90 runs while in the second, Yashasvi scored a double ton. In the third Test, Rohit bhai and Jaddu bhai (Jadeja) scored centuries. It isn't like only one player is scoring the bulk of the runs for us. The entire line-up is contributing, which is why we have aggregated about 400 in all the Tests," Gill said.
He added that the conversation in the dressing room was that at least one or two players should go on to score big should the hosts get off to a good start.
"In the first match, we got a great start. After the first Test, the conversation in the dressing room was that two or three players should look to score big. We talked about at least one or two guys scoring 100-150 runs, if not more, as it would put us at an advantage," the batter said.
The 24-year-old said that his crucial 91-run knock in the second innings at Rajkot was a much more calm and composed inning than his century in the second Test at Vizag.
"In the Vizag Test, my experience and mental space over the course of my inning was different than what they were during my previous matches with India. In the Rajkot Test, we were in a good position, leading by 300-plus runs. Given that we were sitting pretty, I could afford to settle in at the crease and go about constructing my inning in a calm and composed manner," Gill said.
The Punjab batter is the fourth-highest run-scorer in the ongoing series, aggregating 252 runs across six innings at an average of 42 and with a century and a fifty to his name.
India's updated squad for the 4th Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.