Shubman Gill must be having a gander at a T20I debut during the ongoing tour of New Zealand. Had rain not played spoilsport in the first T20I in Wellington tonight, who knows if Gill might have already made his T20I debut by now. With the match yet to be abandoned, possibility of Gill adding to his 11 Test and 12 ODI caps might still come true today itself.
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Gill, who first played for India in an ODI in Hamilton as a 19-year old, hasn’t been able to justify his potential in real sense in what has become an almost four-year old international career. Having said that, the right-hand batter seems to be in the best form of his life in a year where he has registered a career-best Indian Premier League season, won two Player of the Series awards in ODIs and scored a maiden T20 century.
A rain-delay, however, allowed Gill to recall all fond memories of traveling to New Zealand over the years in a conversation with broadcaster Prime Video. For the unversed, apart from making his international debut in this country, Gill also has a Player of the Tournament award here in the ICC Under-19 World Cup played half-a-decade ago.
Shubman Gill keen to get timing right to better T20 strike rate
Gill finding a place in this Indian T20I squad was followed by severe criticism of the selectors for picking Gill ahead of batter Prithvi Shaw. Gill’s captain during the U-19 World Cup, Shaw has already represented India in the shortest format albeit just once.
Another case of a young highly-rated batter not justifying immense potential, Shaw has better List A and T20 numbers than Gill. What particularly sets Shaw ahead of Gill especially in T20s is his strike rate (151.67 as compared to Gill’s 128.72) which has come on the back of a fearless approach in the powerplay.
In six Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022 matches, Gill scored 260 runs at a strike rate of 156.62. A significant improvement by his standards, Gill still lacked behind behind Shaw (332 runs at a strike rate of 181.42) as far as brisk run-scoring ability is concerned. Acknowledging his success in the recently concluded domestic T20 tournament, Gill expressed awareness of executing certain things for Punjab in the last month or so.
“I have always felt hitting sixes is not about power. It’s about timing. If I am getting that right, I know I can hit sixes,” Gill told Prime Video. “It’s always about me looking to score than look for four or six. I want to play less dot balls. I want to keep ticking, ones, twos etc. It’s more about you being able to wait and swing in the line of the ball rather than swinging hard at the ball.”
