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India captain Shubman Gill formed a highly important partnership with KL Rahul on the fourth day of Manchester Test to get the side into a decent position in the match. After getting restricted to 0/2 at one stage with both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan departing back to the pavilion for ducks, the danger of defeat by an inning loomed over the Men in Blue as England had taken a massive lead of 311 runs.
Rahul and Gill formed a sensational partnership on Day 4
Thankfully for India, Rahul and Gill continued their tremendous form in the series and played unbeaten knocks of 87 and 78 respectively to help the side wrap up Day 4 on 174/2, still trailing England by 137 runs. The danger of defeat is still looming for the Men in Blue, but the huge partnership has provided them with a lot of confidenbce as well.
Though Gill has so far been brilliant with the bat in India's second innings, he ended up making multiple tactical mistakes as captain earlier in the match which led to England posting a mammoth total of 669 runs in their first innings. Sharing Virat Kohli as an example, former India cricketer Ravi Shastri compared the former's leadership skills to that of Gill.
"I'll give an example of Virat. He was the other way round as far as Gill [is concerned]. He was ultra-aggressive, where you had to, at times, calm him down from the dressing room. It was as if he wanted five wickets every session. That doesn't happen. Sometimes, you've got to respect conditions and set fields accordingly," Shastri said on Sky Sports Cricket.
"That's why team management becomes crucial. For Shubman Gill, it should be [the case] for his first year. The senior team members... they have to start being accountable, they have to have their own ideas. That should come from the bowlers as well, rather than the captain going to them. They've played 50-60 Test matches. That's what Stokes does; he wants to disrupt things and find ways to break partnerships," he added.
Meanwhile, India will be hoping to not lose early wickets on the fifth ands final day of the Manchester Test as it will put them massively under pressure. Instead, Rahul and Gill will be looking to take the Men in Blue's innings forward and will also try to get them the lead in the match as that will make it quite difficult for England to snatch the victory.
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