Shubman Gill’s aggression triggered England’s beast mode at Lord’s: Moeen Ali
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali sees shades of Virat Kohli in Shubman Gill’s aggressive on-field demeanour, but feels the India batter’s approach during the Lord’s Test may have triggered a stronger response from the host.
Gill has been quite aggressive during the series, and his conduct at Edgbaston mirrored Kohli’s famous century celebration at the same venue in 2018.
“My take is, it’s fine. I think he’s just trying to be competitive in front of a fight, and very similar to Virat, I think it’s fine,” Moeen, currently featuring for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Global Super League (GSL), said during an interaction on Wednesday.
“But then, obviously, the other team, what you’ve done is, I think you’ve actually brought out the best of England and the fight and that beast England can be. And I think it’s a different side of England. They’ve shown all the players that it’s great for the series to win. I don’t know why it’s getting criticised,” he added.
Former India players Sanjay Manjrekar and Mohammad Kaif have suggested that Gill’s approach, particularly his verbal duels with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett at Lord’s, may have backfired.
Gill has been in sublime form with the bat this series, scoring a century at Headingley and following it up with a record-breaking ton and a double hundred in the second Test in Birmingham, which India won by 336 runs.
However, he made just 16 and 6 at Lord’s, where India went down by 22 runs despite a late fightback led by Ravindra Jadeja and the lower order.
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Moeen, who shared the Chennai Super Kings dressing room with Jadeja in the IPL, praised his batting but noted the lack of returns with the ball.
“He just knows what he’s doing. I think he’s done it for many years. I think he’s been amazing with the bat this series, obviously,” he said.
“I think with the ball, he hasn’t quite got the wickets, but he does what he does. He’s very tight. He can bowl, but he’s not outstanding. He’s been batting well for a few years now, I think. Especially, even last time they came to England, he batted brilliantly, and I think now he’s at the peak of his batting. Bowling-wise, I think he just doesn’t have the wickets. With the tally, I think he’s bowled well, he just doesn’t have the wickets,” he added.
There has been a growing chatter around Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion in the XI, and Moeen echoed the sentiment, but acknowledged the difficulty in making room for the quality spinner.
“I would like to see Kuldeep in the team, but I don’t know who for. Washington bowled well, and Jadeja batted well. So it makes it difficult to bring Kuldeep Yadav in the side. I would like to see Kuldeep in, but I don’t think they can fit him in,” Moeen said.
India was bowled out for 170 while chasing 193 in the third Test, losing the match to hand England a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Reflecting on the game, Moeen said England was fortunate to post a lead in the third innings, as batting in the fourth innings was far more challenging.
“I think, at Lord’s, it can happen. Because there’s always something for the ball, even though the period where it looked easy for batting, there are always a few periods where… it makes it a little bit difficult. I think KL (Rahul) played really well on that wicket. But I think it was obviously a very close game,” he said.
“I think we were lucky, it was even to the closer level. England just scored a few more runs in the third innings, which was probably easier than it was in the four innings. But I think the first morning at Lord’s, when it was doing a bit more, I thought England got through that period nicely. And I think to be 387 in the first innings there and in that situation, I think was a lot right,” he added.
