"What success is he talking about": Gill hits back at Cummins on use of short-ball tactic in 3rd Test

Brisbane [Australia], December 13 (ANI): Ahead of the third Test against Australia at Brisbane, star India batter Shubman Gill took a jab at Australian skipper Pat Cummins for his comments about employing the short-ball tactic against the visitors, questioning Australia's overall success in using it against Indian batters.
The third Test of the series is set to begin on Saturday at the Brisbane Cricket Ground. Following a resounding 295-run defeat against the visitors at Perth's Optus Stadium--where standout performances from Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Yashasvi Jaiswal were on display--the hosts bounced back strongly. Exceptional bowling efforts from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, combined with a counter-attacking century from Travis Head, secured Australia a dominant 10-wicket win as they chased down a modest target of 19 runs.
India will arrive in Brisbane with an advantage, as the last time they visited in 2021, an inexperienced Indian line-up led by Ajinkya Rahane handed the Aussies their first defeat at the venue in over 32 years, sealing a 2-1 series win. Earlier this year, the West Indies also registered a remarkable victory at the same venue, thanks to a phenomenal seven-wicket haul from Shamar Joseph during a pink-ball Test.
Ahead of the match, Cummins hinted at using the short-ball strategy during the pre-match press conference.
"Yes, potentially. It worked out in the Adelaide Test. It is always in the back of your mind as a bit of a Plan B, or if it is looking really uncomfortable and likely to take wickets, maybe it becomes Plan A for some of the batters," Cummins had said.
Gill responded by noting that this tactic had not yielded significant results against India's top-order batters.
"I think, except for the tail-enders, only one batsman has been out on the short ball. So, I do not know what success he is talking about," said Gill during the pre-match presser.
The young batter also took a moment to congratulate Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh, who on Thursday became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion after defeating China's Ding Liren in the final game of their FIDE World Championship match.
"I just want to congratulate him on behalf of the entire Indian cricket team. To become a world champion, and the youngest one ever, is a great feat in itself," said Gill.
Gill further mentioned that the Indian batting unit aims to put up substantial first-innings scores.
"As a team, as a batting group, we are looking to post a big total first up. This has been one of our key discussions. Every batsman will have his own game plan, but collectively we want a big first-innings score," said Gill.
With the series now level at 1-1, Gill emphasized that the team sees the remaining matches as essentially a three-match series.
"If we win this match, then I think we'll have the upper hand heading into Melbourne and Sydney," he added.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal. (ANI)