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Kolkata Knight Riders

about a year ago

India's prolific opener Shubman Gill scored a fluent half-century on the opening day of the first Test match at Kanpur. The youngster looked all set to convert his start into a big score when a Kyle Jamieson beauty castled him, just after the lunch.

Jamieson's terrific in-dipper breached his defence, as it took the inside-edge onto the stumps. Gill, talking about the delivery in a press conference after the day's play, said that he barely expected any reverse swing at such an early stage of the match and hence failed to read the line.

"I think he (Jamieson) bowled pretty well today especially in the first spell, he bowled pretty good areas to me. When I came to bat after lunch, the whole over was top-notch; in fact the whole spell that he bowled he looked in good rhythm," Gill said.

"Sometimes, it's difficult to know when the ball starts reverse-swinging and especially after coming back from lunch, I didn't expect the ball to reverse that early in the game. But that's the thing about Test cricket. You have to read the conditions fast. In this particular innings, I wasn't able to read that ball well as generally, I wasn't expecting the ball to reverse swing that early," he added.

After Gill's dismissal and a couple of more wickets, debutant Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja steadied the ship with an unbeaten 113-run stand as India posted 258/4 at Stumps. If Iyer deserves accolades for his fine knock, Jadeja's iconic sword celebration after his fifty is worth being talked about too.

Gill reflected on the duo's contribution and said, "Jadeja's celebrations are mostly iconic. So, every time he reaches close to a fifty or hundred, we wait in anticipation that he would bring out his sword and celebrate. Iyer's innings on debut was really good. After losing three wickets in the second session, their partnership really made the difference. So, we hope that they continue their form and post a great total on the board tomorrow."