Abhishek Sharma, who has played with Shubman Gill since he was 12, is aware that it won’t be long before his best friend, who is currently off-colour, begins to win T20I matches for India, including those in the T20 World Cup next year.
After a settled Sanju Samson was benched, Gill’s inclusion in the Indian T20I playing eleven has come under scrutiny. At a strike rate of 137.3, the format’s vice-captain has only managed 291 runs in 15 innings.
In those games, he only hit four sixes. On Sunday, in the third T20I at Dharamsala against South Africa, Gill scored a laborious run-a-ball 28, but it didn’t really matter because Abhishek (35 off 18 balls) had given the side a thrilling start in a chase of a pitiful target of 118.
“I’ll tell you one thing straight away, that trust me, these two guys are going to win matches in World Cup (in February-March) and in this series as well,” Abhishek responded when questioned about Gill and captain Suryakumar Yadav’s dismal performance in the current five-match series, which India currently leads 2-1.
Abhishek was naturally protective of Gill, his best friend of over ten years.
“Because I’ve been playing with them since so long, especially with Shubman, so I know which match he can win, which conditions, irrespective of the team, whoever it is,” he said.
“So I have a lot of faith in him from the beginning, and I hope everyone will see him very soon and everyone will have faith in him,” added the world’s No.1 T20 batter.
With Gill and Surya unable to bat freely, India needed more than ten overs to get the remaining runs after Abhishek was removed with a team score of 60.
“There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers, and as I was batting, I knew that if I gave a good start here, the match could get over in the Powerplay, and that’s what happened.
“…that was the plan for the rest of the batters, that they would just knock out or finish the match, so it was a very simple plan after that,” Abhishek explained the rationale behind taking it easy after a blistering start.
According to Abhishek, he had to keep in mind that the pacers would experience movement both in the air and off the surface on chilly December evenings in this region.
“Conditions of course, I mean, as a batter you have to keep those things in mind that the ball is swinging a bit or it’s seaming a bit, so I tried to play a few shots which is suitable for those wickets and pitches, so that’s the plan always.”
Suryakumar, the Indian skipper, has only amassed 213 runs at an average of 14.20 and a startlingly low strike rate of 125.29 in 20 games and 18 innings this year, with the highest score of 47 not out.
Surya’s average this year is the worst of all Test-playing countries and the second-worst in a calendar year (minimum 200 runs), behind Clinton Rubagumya of Rwanda’s 12.52 in 2022. After Axar Patel (11.62 in 2022), this is the second-worst average for an Indian in T20Is over the course of a calendar year (minimum 10 innings).
Gill has been outperforming Suryakumar, but it doesn’t mean much either, as he has only scored 291 runs at a strike rate of more than 137 and an average of 24.25 in 15 innings.
