India finally had their first training session in Melbourne on fresh practice pitches in the outdoor nets of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), after spending two days on used tracks in gearing up for the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The contest currently stands locked at 1-1, with the previous game in Brisbane washed out.
After India wrapped up their lengthy net session on Tuesday, two days before the start of the match, Rohit Sharma walked towards the spectators, who had gathered around the MCG nets to watch Indian cricket stars, and obliged them with autographs. As the India captain made his way back towards the dressing room, a young lady repeatedly urged the 37-year-old to call Shubman Gill, claiming to be his fan.
Rohit initially signalled with his hand, gesturing the spectator to come back later given that he Gill had already wrapped up his training session earlier and had left the nets. But with fan still putting up his request to Rohit, the veteran India batter was left annoyed and he responded loudly saying, “Kaha se lau? (where will I get him?)”
The fan, speaking to RevSportz, who had captured the entire moment, said that she was late to venue on Tuesday as she was putting on a bandage on her fractured leg. She concluded by wishing Gill all the luck for the impending match.
“My leg is broken. I put on a bandage and came. Yesterday I saw him briefly, but could not say anything because I started crying. I came a little late today because of my leg, hence I could not meet Shubman. But I hope he makes a comeback,” she said.
Rohit not worried about Gill’s form
There has been an increasing concern over Gill’s form away from home. Since his breakout show at the Gabba in 2021, where he had scored a match-winning 91, the India No. 3 has managed just a solitary ton away from home – in Bangladesh in 2022. He averages 23.8 across nine Tests in England, Bangladesh, West Indies, South Africa and Australia, while in the same period, he smashed 1177 runs at 42.03 at home, laced with four hundreds across 17 Tests.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Rohit said, “Both innings in Adelaide he looked pretty good, just didn’t go on to score a big one. I think he got 25-30 in both innings. I’m not going to look too much into Brisbane, got out second or third ball. You can’t look too much into it. But Gill has been one of our young prospects, who is coming up and playing really, really well. These tours can be challenging . It is the same thing, when some of these travel to India, it is hard for them as well.”
