NEW DELHI: Shubman Gill was included in the third Test against Australia in place of out-of-form KL Rahul but the young India opener failed to make any impact with the bat as he scored just 21 and 5 in both innings.
The Indore pitch saw 30 wickets tumble in the first two days and no India batter managed to put up a fight except Cheteshwar Pujara.
Gill threw his wicket in the second innings in a bid to go for a big shot but he found support in former India spinner Harbhajan Singh for his approach.
“See, the game plan is simple here. You can’t survive on this pitch with defence. Pujara was using his feet throughout his innings. If you’re thinking that you can wait out for a spell and score runs later, it won’t work. Even if you’re playing on 70-80 on this pitch, you can get out with just one odd delivery,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports.

“You have to look out for the opportunity to score runs. You need to see where you can get a four. Shubman wanted to go for a six, and when you consider the pitch condition here, his approach was right because you can’t defend on this pitch for long,” he added.
India were bundled out for just 109 after opting to bat first on day one of the third Test, where Australia’s left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann claimed his maiden five-fer.
In the second innings off-spinner Nathan Lyon completed his second eight-wicket haul in Test cricket to bowl out India for 163 and put Australia on the verge of a victory in third Test at the Holkar Stadium on Thursday.