IND vs ENG: ‘There’s a way to get under his skin a little bit’: Alyssa Healy on England going hard at India captain Shubman Gill

“I read some stuff about when teams go hard at (Shubman) Gill, it can rattle him a little bit. So if England have got even half a sniff at that, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen, knowing how successful he was in those first two Test matches, there’s a way to get under his skin a little bit,” Healy said while speaking on Willow Talk Podcast.

In a Test match, where Indian top-order batsmen failed, it was Ravindra Jadeja’s defiant innings of 61 not out which put India closer to the target. The penultimate day of the Test would also see Indian bowlers going hard at English batsmen, with Mohammad Siraj giving a send-off to Ben Duckett. With England setting a target of 193 runs, the England team, led by Ben Stokes, who took three wickets in the second innings, won the Test by 22 runs. Healy believes that the England team will go hard at captain Shubman Gill in the remaining two Tests too. “Teams generally go hard at the skipper. If you can get the skipper cheaply or get under their skin and rattle a few cages in that regard then you feel you are on your way. So if England even sniff even a little bit of weakness there, they’ll ram that home. They’ll go hard,” she added.

Earlier, former England batsman Jonathan Trott too had criticised Shubman Gill for getting confrontational with England batsmen. Trott also talked about the incident with a possible reference to former Indian captain Virat Kohli.

“We don’t know what went on when England were fielding, whether they were dishing it out. But I don’t like the acting from Shubman Gill, as a captain you set the tone. Pointing fingers and getting very confrontational , very much like a previous captain before getting in the face of the opposition. I am all for being competitive and being tough on the field, sometimes you have to rise above it. It sets up nicely for tomorrow’s play,” Trott had said on JioHotstar.