What A Catch! You’ll Want To Watch Superman Shubman Gill’s Stunning Effort Again And Again
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Galle: Since West Bengal’s Shubhadeep Ghosh took charge as Team India’s new fielding coach in place of T. Dilip, an improvement has been noticeable in the fielding standards of the Indian players. The best example came on Monday morning in Galle on the third day of the first Test against Sri Lanka, when captain Shubman Gill produced a Superman-style diving catch.
With Sri Lanka’s score at 59 for three in their first innings on Monday, Kamindu Mendis, an experienced player with 85 international appearances, had just begun to settle at the crease after scoring 14 runs with one six and one four. He then became the victim of the wrist magic of left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, popularly known as a Chinaman bowler.
Mendis, a left-handed batter, pushed a full-length delivery outside off stump towards extra cover, but the ball could not escape the watchful eyes of Shubman Gill. Gill, who had recovered from a finger injury just four days earlier, dived to his left and grabbed the ball just inches above the grass.
There was initially some doubt over whether the ball had touched the ground, but Gill had in fact completed a brilliant catch. Even the commentators could hardly believe what they had witnessed and loudly praised Gill for the incredible effort. Mendis himself looked stunned and simply stared at Gill in disbelief.
India had posted 462 in their first innings. Sri Lanka lost their fourth wicket, that of Mendis, at a total of 59. Later, before lunch, Ravindra Jadeja struck when Sri Lanka reached 90, dismissing captain Dhananjaya de Silva for 21 after he was caught in the slips by KL Rahul.
Sri Lanka lost their first five wickets before lunch, all through catches. Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul took those five catches respectively.
This is clear evidence that the coaching of new fielding coach Shubhadeep Ghosh is already bearing fruit for the Indian team.
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