Shubman Gill came under sharp criticism after his tentative batting at Lord’s, with former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar warning that “aggression doesn’t come naturally to Shubman Gill like it did to Virat Kohli.”

Manjrekar, speaking on JioHotstar, cautioned Gill against projecting an aggressive persona that doesn’t align with his natural temperament, suggesting it may be image-building rather than genuine. He remarked:

"If somebody wants to build a brand by saying, we are Indians, we are not less than anyone. That (The thought process) gets a lot of attention and mileage. I hope Shubman Gill wasn't doing it for that," Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.

Manjrekar added that Virat Kohli loved to pick up a fight with the opposition because that got the best out of him. He believed that Kohli would have slammed a century at Lord's in the second innings if he had come out to bat at that stage. But Gill, instead looked very timid and unnatural during his stay in the middle.

"What Virat Kohli did was second nature to him. His cricket and batting used to get enhanced by that. Shubman Gill, I'm not sure whether this (aggression) comes naturally to him. If Virat Kohli had come out to bat, he would have looked into the face of those people and got a hundred. But if you looked at Shubman Gill's body language, the man who has almost batted like Bradman, was so tentative. The way he batted in those 9 balls seemed like he had gotten a pair. That is a clear message to me that aggression may not be his natural demeanour or approach," he added.