Boria Majumdar at The Oval in London
This series will be remembered as the tale of two run-outs. While we don’t know yet if the Shubman Gill run-out will impact the outcome, the truth is that England must have felt like they had won the national lottery to see India’s best batter get run out like that. Gill was looking in fine touch once again, and nothing much was happening for England on a green wicket. The bowlers hadn’t been able to bowl the right lines and India, after the fall of the KL Rahul’s wicket, had taken control.
Let’s be clear. There was no run there. Debating whether Sai Sudharsan could have made his ground and all that is plain rubbish. No way should you run for that. The bowler had three stumps to aim at, and knocked down the middle one. It was the perfect brain-fade moment and yet another opportunity lost for India.
It was Gill who kept running. Sai had not responded to the call, and yet, India’s skipper could not stop. By the time he did, it was too late. The turnaround took another split-second, and by then, his only hope was that Gus Atkinson would miss. He did not, and Gill was a dead duck. The English crowd couldn’t believe their luck. In fact, after a second of disbelief, they were in ruptures. It had taken a fraction of a second to understand what had happened. To get Gill’s wicket on a platter, someone who had scored 743 runs in the series, was like divine intervention.
It was Rishabh Pant on day three at Lord’s, and Gill here. India were 248-3 and in compete control of the game when the Pant moment happened on the stroke of lunch. And soon after, India lost Rahul and the possibility of a significant first-innings lead. England battled back, and you could argue that Pant’s dismissal cost India the Test match.
Gill’s could be just as costly. With Rahul out to a false shot and Pant not there, India desperately needed the man in form to be out there making it count. And the way he was batting, there was reason to believe he would have done that as well. But then, what do they know of cricket who only cricket know? It could well be that even Gill doesn’t have an answer to why he tried to run that single.
That’s what sport is all about, and that’s why a solitary mistake can sometimes cost you a game.
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