Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler have picked an England bowler who they believe can trouble India captain Shubman Gill in the third Test at Lord’s, starting Thursday.Gill has amassed 585 runs in four innings, including three centuries, and the England bowlers have looked clueless while bowling to him.
Speaking on For the Love of Cricket, his new podcast with Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad said: “Shubman Gill, 269. Honestly, it looked like he could have broken Lara’s record.“He was just cruising. It didn’t look like anything could trouble him. There’s always a bit of nervousness when you’re put into bat — that you could be 30 for three and really under the pump — but England were okay that first morning.“He didn’t do anything badly. Maybe a bit unlucky. Chris Woakes — you saw he got quite frustrated — two or three umpire’s calls could have gone England’s way, but didn’t.“But once Gill got in, goodness me — that move to No. 4! He spent most of his career so far opening the batting, averaging around 30. Since Virat Kohli retired, he’s moved to number four and gone on to score a hundred, a big double, a big 150 — just awesome.“It looks like he’s got no weaknesses at all. You know, when he was young, when I bowled to him in India, I always felt that if I could get the right line to nip back through the gate, that was a really good option. But now, he looks like he’s really covering that line, and LBW doesn’t seem to be in play much anymore.”Buttler agreed with Broad on Gill’s form but mentioned a chink in the India captain’s armour that England might exploit in the third Test.“The sort of hunger and determination from Gill — to score a massive double and then come out again in the second innings and make another big score — it’s been impressive. And obviously, becoming captain, there was a lot of talk about his record. He’s a better player than what his record was showing, wasn’t he? And he’s certainly turned that around very quickly,” said Buttler.“You mentioned the move to number four — coming in when the ball is a little bit older, which maybe makes it a little bit easier and hides any technical deficiencies — but to be honest, he doesn’t look like he’s got any at the moment.“I think the ball that nips back and tries to get him bowled is still an option. Obviously, Jofra Archer will be coming back into the side at Lord’s, I imagine — not that I’m picking the team — but he did get Shubman bowled in the IPL, nipping one back through the gate.“But other than that, he’s a very correct player. India produce a lot of technically very correct players.”
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