In-form Shubman Gill failed to give India a good start with the bat in the first innings of the ongoing ICC Test Championship Final (WTC Final) against Australia at the Oval in London.

Asked to bat first, Australia posted a big total of 469 thanks to impressive centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith. They were reeling at 76 for 3 at one stage after being asked to bat first before Head and Smith batted them to a strong position. The duo shared a mammoth 285-run stand for the fourth wicket. Head scored 161 before being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj while Smith scored 121 before Shardul Thakur sent him back.

After conceding the huge total, India would have wanted their skipper Rohit Sharma and in-form Shubman Gill to give a good start with the bat. However, both the openers failed to score big as Australia strengthened their grip on the game. Captain Pat Cummins gave his team the first breakthrough by dismissing his India counterpart for 15.

Shubman Gill cleaned up by Scott Boland:

Even before India could add another run to their total after Rohit’s departure, Scott Boland struck to send back Shubman Gill for 13. The young opener arrived in England after a stunning campaign in IPL 2023 where he finished the season as the highest run-scorer. Gill scored 890 runs with the help of 3 centuries and 4 fifties to help Gujarat Titans finish the tournament as runner-up.

However, he could not deliver when Team India needed his services the most. The right-handed batsman suffered a brain-fade moment and left a delivery from Boland only to see the ball crash into the stumps. The ball pitched just outside off and was nipping inwards and managed to deceive Gill. The opener failed to judge the delivery as the ball went on to hit the top of off-stump.

Here is a clip of the dismissal:

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