What India Need From Shubman Gill In What lies ahead?

image-lmhhtlitShubman Gill has shown good form in Asia Cup 2023 (Twitter)

2023 has, quite honestly, been Shubman Gill’s year. This is actually the year where a star-studded, powerful and truly mighty force in white ball cricket found in its ranks a new rising name. 

Truth be told, most of us may have that inkling, that big desire to dub him a bistar already especially after comparisons over the World Wide Web brought him neck-to-neck with Virat Kohli. 

But for real, those among us who weigh realism just as important as that thing called unabashed passion, Shubman Gill is a rising force in the game, if not a star already. 

There is also little doubt that he will get there at some stage and probably sooner than most of us can imagine. 

He’s got the shots and the serious numbers to go with it. What makes Shubman Gill stand in a rather envy inspiring league is that he’s got strong substance as well as elegance to go with it. 

The kind of player that can nail down even a heavily fortified off side field and elegantly chip away on the on side. But then cosmological adjectives have always adorned younglings who adorn the Indian cricket jersey.  

As a matter of fact, this year alone, Shubman Gill has nailed 885 runs from just fifteen outings in one day international cricket. Lest it is forgotten, he’s effectively in just his fourth year of playing the format, having played a solitary game in 2020. 

But these aren’t just big numbers. To get a sense of the right hander’s achievement, it is important to note that in just the space of a single year (2023), Gill has compiled 885 of his 1572 career runs, as on September 11. 

As fans of Indian cricket, you just didn’t know what to admire more- his average that’s pointing north of 68 or the swashbuckling highest individual one day score that presently reads 208? 

Moreover, his two most recent innings before a lean knock versus Sri Lanka on September 12 read- an unbeaten 67 and 58 against Nepal and Pakistan, respectively. 

And yet, the constantly progressing Shubman Gill saga doesn’t end here. 

On the whole, it can be noted and sans much effort that the boy from Punjab has actually carried forward the good work done last year in 2022. 

At a time where much of the world was engrossed in the T20 World Cup and other white ball shenanigans, Gill captured headlines by scoring 638 runs in the year 2022. 

That he would do so at a staggering average of 70 whilst being just this 23 year-old was rather interesting. And perhaps inspiring even. 

And yet, despite coming good in the one day format in the year that promises the magnum opus of the very format beckons the rising name in the firmament of Indian cricket to be just a little bit more mindful. 

As seen in the Caribbean most recently, wherein he managed 125 runs from 3 fifty over outings whilst getting out playing very uncharacteristic strokes, Shubman Gill is well advised to tread with caution.  

Not only will he like to end the current Asia Cup campaign on a high, he’d also like to gather princely figures against a fully loaded Australian side that’ll likely feature Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc and Stoinis. 

While we’ve truly enjoyed the blazing starts he’s given us while batting alongside his one day captain, the whole of India will expect Shubman Gill to stay there, to bat with more focus and that very visible albeit understated obduracy. 

Such an uncanny characteristic will not only hold him in good stead but also, his Team India. 

Surely, in what lays ahead there’ll be endless expectations from Rohit and Virat to fire away. But they’d do so- and gladly speaking- with the inherent realisation that the likes of dashing Gill, the returning KL Rahul and the hopefully fit again Shreyas Iyer can carry the team along especially during difficult periods. 

Poised to play his first ever World Cup campaign, Gill’s got nothing to lose and only to gain. 

That’s provided he leaves nothing to chance, not even his blazing 2023 one day form and just keeps doing what he’s got at; getting under the skin of the bowlers with his customary coolness.