Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir feels Shubman Gill can be extremely attacking if the ball doesn’t swing much. Gill had struggled to get going in the Asia Cup’s group stage match against Pakistan, meandering to 10 runs off 32 balls and could not get his timing right against the opposition’s pacers.
However, Gill looked at home in the Super Fours stage match against the arch-rivals at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday. The youngster took an aggressive approach against Pakistan as he was able to hit the ground running.
The right-hander scored 58 runs from 52 balls with the help of 10 fours and scored his runs at a strike rate of 111.54. Gill completed his fifty off just 37 balls as he batted at the top of his game to give a solid start to India along with skipper Rohit Sharma, who scored 56. The opening duo added 121 runs as they gave a perfect start to India.
Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports, “The conditions were also different. The conditions you got in Kandy, you won’t get those conditions in Colombo. It was overcast in Kandy but it was quite sunny when Shaheen Shah Afridi started in Colombo. If the ball doesn’t swing much, Shubman Gill can be extremely attacking.”
Gambhir mentioned that Gill’s aggressive knock took the pressure off Rohit Sharma, who took a bit of time before launching his attack against Shadab Khan.
“You didn’t get to see much swing but I believe the way Shubman batted, if someone removed the pressure from Rohit Sharma, it was Shubman Gill. He played exceptional shots – towards mid-off, over the bowler’s head and then the cover drive. We got to see all types of shots and this was Shubman’s class.”
Meanwhile, Naseem Shah bowled a fine spell, troubling Rohit Sharma continuously as he bowled in the right channel. Gambhir added that both openers showed maturity in their shot-making and showed patience against quality bowling.
“At one stage, Shubman Gill was on 45 and Rohit Sharma was on 15 or 16. It shows how differently Shubman Gill batted. No doubt Rohit Sharma played Naseem Shah extremely well because considering the exceptional spell he was bowling, some other batter could have been nicked off had he tried to attack him.”
“So this is also experience, that who is bowling well and whom you need to see off. I remember Rohit Sharma leaving the last ball off Naseem Shah’s fifth over after hitting two fours because he knew it was the last ball of his spell. If he had gotten out to that ball, the next batter might have been under greater pressure.”
India will resume on 147-2 (24.1 overs) with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli unbeaten at the crease on Monday.
