Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes Shubman Gill clearly doesn’t have the feel for the spinners. Gill returned with scores of 30 and 23 in the second Test match against New Zealand after missing out in the opening Test at Bengaluru due to stiff neck.

The right-hander was dismissed by Mitchell Santner in both innings. Gill was plumbed in front by the left-arm orthodox spinner in the first essay as he could not get his bat in front of the pad.

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches.”

Meanwhile, India struggled against the spin as Mitchell Santner bagged a total of 13 wickets in the match. Manjrekar noted that India’s top-order is not confident enough while facing spin. The former batter feels Virat Kohli misjudged the length in the second innings as he went back to a ball, which he should have been playing on the front foot.

“Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease,” he said. 

“There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half. I think that if India backed their defence a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around.”

The third and final Test match between India and New Zealand will be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai from November 1 onwards.