Before scoring a career-saving second innings century in the just-concluded second Test in Visakhapatnam to help India record a 106-run series-leveling victory against England, Shubman Gill revealed he was under immense pressure after a barren spell of runs in the longest format.

Ahead of the Vizag Test, there was a conversation around Gill that he could be sent to domestic cricket to work on his game with a week’s time between the second and the third Test, starting February 15 in Rajkot.

Before the century in Vizag, Gill had managed only 153 runs in the nine innings with a highest score of 36, leaving his spot in the Playing XI under a lot of scrutiny. Many cricket pundits including former India captain and coach Anil Kumble went on to criticize the team management for giving the Mohali right-hander an extra “cushion” that veteran Cheteshwar Pujara never got.

“He (Gill) has been given the cushion perhaps even Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t get, although he (Pujara) has played over 100 Tests. I keep coming back to him (Pujara) mainly because that was his place (No 3) not too long ago. Pujara played in that World Test Championship final and post that, it’s been Shubman Gill, who’s been moving from the opener’s slot, and he wanted to bat at No. 3,” Kumble had said after India lost the opening Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs.

But Gill decided to cut the outside noise, and rode his luck to survive a few initial scares before silencing his critics with a score of 104 to help India set a match-winning target of 398 in Vizag. He, however, admitted that he was feeling nervous before going into the second Test.

“I’ll sum it up in one line. My heartbeat playing the first ball and the last ball was the same throughout the innings. That’s how nervous I was feeling even after scoring my hundred. That was what I was talking to Rahul (Dravid) sir in the morning when England were batting. It was quite weird for me. I have never experienced anything like this,” he said.

“Obviously, not being able to score runs the previous few matches,” Gill elaborated.

“It wasn’t the outside noise but the expectations that I have for myself… I was disappointed how I got out in the first innings here in Visakhapatnam and in the first innings in Hyderabad. So all of those expectations, I was disappointed, maybe that’s the reason.”

“I don’t read the newspapers but I have seen it with other players. I don’t go on social media to see what people are saying. Because you know, if you’re not doing well, you don’t expect people to tell you you’re not doing well. You know yourself you’re not doing well. More than anyone else, it was my own personal disappointment that I wasn’t performing the way I wanted to perform,” he explained.

Gill also revealed that his father wasn’t happy with the way he got out after scoring the century. The youngster claimed that his father Lakhwinder, who has backed him right from his Under-14 days to not throw away his starts, wasn’t happy that he missed out on a big knock.

“My dad said I missed out on a big one. I said ‘I agree, Papa’. Thank God he let me come out of the hotel today,” Gill said.

The 24-year-old also opened up about his decision to bat at No 3 instead of opening. “People kept asking me why I went from opening to No. 3. I told them that I have batted at No. 3 in first-class and scored three double-hundreds at No. 3 and No. 4,” Gill said.

“So it wasn’t something that I have never done in my life. But batting at No. 3 is obviously different in internationals. And I was thankful that I got the experiences and the opportunities and the mistakes that I made… they all led up to this innings. Hope to learn from these experiences,” he added.