Young opener Shubman Gill opens up on overcoming his fears of tackling bouncers

Team India's opening batsman Shubman Gill has mitted that he used to be petrified of bouncers and has revealed how he overcame problem by preparing tirelessly to get used to playing those deliveries. Gill was one of Team India's heroes in series-deciding fourth Test match against Australia in Brisbane earlier this week. 

He laid a solid foundation with an outstanding kck of 91 in second innings as India chased a stiff target of 328 to retain Border-Gavaskar trophy and even though he ended up missing out on his maiden Test century after being caught at first slip off Nathan Lyon, it was an impactful kck as Men In Blue ended up registering a historic win to seal four-match series 2-1 and register back-to-back Test series wins Down Under.

'I used to be petrified of bouncers'

"When I was young, I used to be petrified of bouncers. I used to be prepared for chest-height balls way in vance. I used to practice drives a lot so I got mature in playing pull shot with a straight bat. I also developed one more shot where I move back a little to play cut. I used to feel scared of short deliveries so I always wanted to get away from line of ball to play cut shot. se two-three shots were my favourite as a kid and w y have become a part of me," Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) official website quoted Gill as saying.

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Citing an example of when he was playing an group match in Mohali, 2018 U-19 World Cup winner mentioned that one is only scared of bouncers until y get a blow after which everything feels pretty rmal. Gill n revealed how he finally mand to overcome his fear.

"When you get hit by a ball, your fear disappears. You are only scared until you get a blow but once you get hit, you feel like it was pretty rmal! And n you lose fear entirely. I was 9 years old when I was asked to play in a higher group match. re was a bowler in acemy who was really fast. I was batting against him and was scared that I would get a bouncer to start with. So, I h pre-decided that I would just duck it," he said.

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"He tried to bowl a bouncer but inste ended pitching it up. I realised this but still squatted and saw ball hitting edge of my bat to go boundary. I realised he was t that fast after all. Soon I hit 2-3 more boundaries. This helped me raise my confidence level. This incident just eliminated all kinds of fear from my heart for lear balls and bouncers," youngster ded.

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(With ANI Inputs)