Debasis Sen, Port of Spain: Young Shubman Gill is quite excited to be sharing the same dressing room with Brendon McCullum during the India Premier League next year. The New Zealander, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of the game has been drafted in by his former franchise as the assistant coach. Gill had a decent series here with India A, bagging the Man of the Series award in the One Dayers and scoring a double hundred in the second innings of the final test at the Brian Lara academy. Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Brendon McCullum has been appointed as the assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders. Are you looking forward to sharing the dressing room with him?
Shubman: I am pretty excited. I have seen him bat on TV, particularly the way he led New Zealand during the 2015 World Cup. I am very excited to be sharing the same dressing room with him. I am really looking forward to.
Anything particular you would like to learn from him?
Shubman: Obviously I will talk about a lot of things. His knocks during the World Cup, how he mentally prepared ahead of big matches. He was an opener, so if I get an opportunity to open the batting for Knight Riders, I will be asking him about his mindset and how he went about.
How satisfying series has it been considering the disappointment of not being selected in any senior teams for the ensuing series against West Indies?
Shubman: I am satisfied with the way I performed in the series, particularly the ODI’s and the test series. I got out early here in the first innings but I told myself that if I get set I would make it count. The situation I went into bat was challenging with three wickets gone for 15 odd runs. We (myself and Hanuma Vihari) had to grind in there and get runs for the team. We were hoping for a victory buty eventually had to settle for a draw. In the second innings West Indies batsmen played really well
What has been the biggest takeaways from this series?
Shubman: I think coming here and playing in these conditions. You know the wickets weren’t easy to bat during the one dayers. The wickets were a bit sticky and the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat initially. So for me the biggest gain was to go there and grind myself and get those crucial runs for the team. Not just the way I approach my batting but to score the runs in singles, doubles and spending time at the crease.
See the full interview in the link given below.