After successfully countering a challenge put in front of him by the Sri Lankan bowlers in the third ODI in Thiruvananthapuram, batter Shubman Gill was asked to accomplish another challenge in the form of interviewing former India captain Virat Kohli.
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More of a casual post-match chat at the Greenfield International Stadium yesterday, it still required Gill to rehearse questions according to Kohli. Gill, who has played 13 out of his 34 international matches across formats with Kohli also in the Playing XI, batted alongside the legendary batter for the fifth time on Sunday.
The first-ever instance of Gill and Kohli batting together for a partnership in excess of 100 runs eventually witnessed both of them registering individual centuries. Kohli, who congratulated Gill for scoring his first century for India at home, not only believed that he richly deserved one but also admitted to have enjoyed batting with him.
Virat Kohli’s advice to Shubman Gill during century partnership in Thiruvananthapuram ODI
While both of them agreed to Gill missing a century in the first ODI in Guwahati on Tuesday, Gill opined that he could’ve converted his second ODI century into a career-best knock at the highest level.
“I felt I left a bit of runs here. I could have gone a bit deeper. Jab hum dono batting kar rahe the toh aapne bola ki tera aaj lamba jaane ka time hai [When we both were batting, you advised me to bat long today]. I had kept that in mind,” Gill told Kohli in a video interview published on the website of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India).
A proper textbook all-format right-handed batter, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Gill’s abilities match quite a lot with Kohli especially when the latter was of his age back in the day. Much like Kohli, even Gill has started to dominate the ODI format first before extending his run-spree to the remaining formats.
While Kohli won the Player of the Series award for being the highest run-scorer across three ODIs, Gill was behind him with his 207 runs coming at an average of 69 and a strike rate of 122.48.
