A few days before the first Test at Leeds Sachin Tendulkar was holding court on how to bat in England. The question about Shubman Gill was put to him. If there was one issue in Shubman’s batting before this series, it was his slow weight transfer onto the front foot. Quality seamers like James Anderson, Tim Southee, Kylie Jamieson, Matt Henry, Mohammed Shami (in IPL), Scott Boland and others have all dismissed him with a good-length nipbacker that would either trap him lbw or get him bowled.
There seemed a reluctance almost to get forward quickly as his game had been built on cement tracks in his childhood where he would either stand tall at crease or even push back a touch to punch balls on the rise. In case he moved forward it was never a stride but a short step. If the ball was fuller, he would just let his hands go through the line. It had become such a strength of his, that if he changed that particular aspect, it might upset his balance and poise. But the good Test seamers were undoubtedly troubling him. And so Tendulkar was asked that question: what should Shubman do?
“80% of the time or even more, most batters are dismissed on that front foot,” Tendulkar told this newspaper. “Back foot, unless it’s an obvious weakness, is less. The key to solving this is to focus a lot on getting on the front foot, having that nice stride on the front foot and defending well. Driving is only an extension of that. If he [Shubman] can keep it straight and do that, it will help him.
Youngest Indian captain to score a double ton in Test cricket. Shubman Gill makes the road to royalty look effortless. 👑#SonySportsNetwork #GroundTumharaJeetHamari #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/SRZ7qxYtmR
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) July 3, 2025
“When the length is closer to you, then the hands automatically are going to go. But his challenge is not to let the hands go when the length is not there to be driven … To start with, he has to play in the V, just like our coaches used to tell us. As that would help him to also leave the balls [not just deal with nipbackers] because when focusing on playing in the V, your eyeline and your body setup is different. So, I would like him initially to stay side on and move forward if the ball is pitched up,” Tendulkar said.
He didn’t have to wait too long for the test. And it wasn’t a surprise considering England’s dressing room had Southee as their bowling consultant. He has troubled Shubman a lot, and inspired his team-mates too to hurl that length. In his first knock at Leeds, 11 of the first 15 deliveries at Shubman had Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse gunning for that lbw or bowled. The nipbackers off a full length came one after another. Shubman’s usually reluctant front foot, though, was gliding forward rather nicely. Stokes soon brought on Chris Woakes, who can move the ball a touch in the air and that potentially could upset Shubman’s balance further, but with that front foot moving, the hands didn’t wander too much away from him. Woakes bent the ball in, Shubman wristed them to the on side.
The effort to get forward more than before was noticeable. All elements of Tendulkar’s advice were visible: the side-on, batting in the ‘V’, the front-foot movement, and the hands that didn’t betray.
India’s captain Shubman Gill celebrates after their win against England on day five of the second cricket test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Not that Shubman didn’t know the issue before. Just that instead of moving the front foot, he had tried everything else. Perhaps he felt that one change can upset his entire set-up that he has carefully built from childhood, and open up holes in other parts of his game. In the initial years his trigger movement was simple: he would move back a touch, open his front foot a bit, and wait. He managed the in-between length with his hands, by letting them go in front of the body to meet the ball, but the good seamers stopped feeding him with really-full deliveries.
And so he began to tweak. He first stopped that initial backwards movement, instead shuffling sideways with his back foot. But that didn’t really help much. He then had a pronounced lean-in with his front shoulder at stance, but without the feet moving, it also didn’t amount to much. Later, he began to start walking down the pitch against such bowlers who hit that in-between length. It worked more than the other tweaks, but usually after he had settled down. Once in Australia when he tried that, Pat Cummins banged a bouncer into his helmet. He had to make that front foot movement in England, there was almost no other way as the old approach was fine on bouncier tracks in Australia where he could punch even length balls on the rise. In England, the balls don’t bounce that much and are likely to skid or seam or swing – all three is bound to yank him off shape and poise if he stays stuck on the crease. Luckily, he has made the change.
Story continues below this ad
India’s captain Shubman Gill celebrates after scoring 150 runs during day four of the second cricket test match between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Watching the first two Tests closely has been the New Zealander Kane Williamson’s original batting mentor David Johnston, who had first seen Shubman during a U-19 tour of New Zealand and had noted that weight-transfer issue. “It was great to see him do what he did with that front foot. Batting essentially is about weight transfer. As long as he has a good balance at the time of the forward-press it’s actually then easier to get back and play the ball under his eyes. Also, batting at No. 4 will help him. Hope he continues that approach. Certainly a very good start!” Johnston told this newspaper.
England’s bowling in the first two Tests on batting beauties have been rather ordinary to say the least, barring an odd patch here and there. Watching Akash Deep trouble the likes of Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith with his skiddy movement and sharp nipbackers from a length did raise the thought about how Shubman would have fared against him. Shubman’s test is likely to get more intense at Lord’s where more helpful bowler conditions await and probably England’s fastest Jofra Archer too. Will he trust himself to try getting forward there or relapse to old habits?
