"Looked Subdued, Uncertain": Sunil Gavaskar Critical Of India's Superstar Batter

The Indian top order witnessed a bitter collapse in the opening Asia Cup 2023 game against Pakistan, with the top three of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill departing without contributing much with the bat. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah did quite well with the ball until the pairing of Ishan Kishan and Hadik Pandya stabilised the Indian ship. Speaking of India's top-order collapse, iconic batter Sunil Gavaskar said that while Rohit and Virat got out to good deliveries, Shubman didn't look like himself in the game.

"Both the batters (Rohit and Virat) could've used their feet a bit better. Rohit Sharma had a big gap between his bat and pad. Shreyas Iyer was a bit unlucky. That was a cracking hook shot but it went straight to the fielder. If the fielder could've been 5 meters left or right, it would've been a boundary. Shubman Gill, for some strange reason, looked very subdued. Didn't look as if he was playing his natural game, seemed to be in some of uncertainty around him. That's why he didn't open his account for a long time and hardly looked the Shubman Gill that we know," Gavaskar said on India Today.

While the trio of Rohit, Virat and Shubman were disappointing, Gavaskar was full of praise for Ishan and Hardik for the manner in which they handled the pressure and took India out of a troublesome position.

"Yes, I think what he showed was that an opening batter can bat anywhere down the order. It's not easy the other way around, where a middle-order batter can come in and open the batting. It's not easy, but an opening batter can be accommodated anywhere down the order, and he brings a left-handed dimension to the Indian batting line. If you could look at the top four, they're all right and