Shubman Gill: ‘It doesn’t matter who we are enjoying, we want to play at our own depth’

The probability to safe his first sequence win as India’s Test captain awaits Shubman Gill when the second Test in opposition to West Indies begins at the Arun Jaitley Stadium from Friday.

Having marched to victory by an innings and 140 runs inside three days within the first Test, India’s need to reestablish its dominance at house, following a defeat by New Zealand final 12 months that halted a 12-year unbeaten streak, was off to a sturdy begin in opposition to Roston Chase’s outfit.

With cricket within the Caribbean dealing with a number of issues on and off the turf, the chance of a turnaround within the nationwide capital this week appears bleak.

Regardless of the gulf between the 2 outfits, Gill was sure on match eve that India’s depth wouldn’t dip. “I don’t think your intensity drops depending on the opposition. It doesn’t matter who we are playing. We want to be able to play at our own intensity, and we want to win.

“When you are playing for India, you don’t need external motivation to up your intensity. We want to maintain our own standards,” the 26-year-old mentioned within the pre-match interplay on Thursday.

If at all there are areas for the host to deal with, B. Sai Sudharsan’s detached begin to his Test profession and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bit-part position within the opener advantage some dialogue. But with every of them, the think-tank is eager to take a long-term view.

“We believe that you have to see someone’s potential first and then see their game in its entirety,” Gill reasoned when requested particularly about Sai Sudharsan’s place. “Once you have given someone enough matches, then you can have a think over where he needs to learn. But as of now, we think he’s someone who can play for India at No. 3 for a very long time.”

In distinction to India’s earlier Test sequence, in opposition to England, the place each recreation went to the fifth day, the lopsided nature of final week’s duel has positioned additional scrutiny on West Indies’ future within the classical format.

“As a cricketing nation, if your red-ball base is very strong, you will automatically do well in ODIs and T20Is,” Gill weighed in on the disaster of the opposition. “I don’t know, but maybe their players’ focus is more on T20s and leagues. So if your focus is on that, and you forget the base from where the game has started, the struggle starts from there.”

Over the subsequent 5 days, it’s up to the West Indies to problem that notion.