COLOMBO: Despite boasting an impressive batting average in ODIs, Shubman Gill was not a regular in the 50-over format for India till this year. Since his debut on January 31, 2019 against New Zealand, the Punjab batter has played 32 matches including the Super Four Asia Cup contest against Bangladesh at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday. Just to get a comparative analysis, India have played 78 ODIs including the Bangladesh match during this period, 46 more than Gill.
With Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul forming a formidable opening pair with each other, Gill never became a permanent fixture at the slot. Ishan Kishan was also tried at the position. Gill opened the innings with all these players except Rohit but could never become a first-choice India opener.
It all changed when he first paired with skipper Rohit at the top against Sri Lanka on January 10, 2023 in Guwahati, adding 143 runs for the first wicket. They have since added three more 100-plus partnerships, including two in succession this Asia Cup — 147 vs Nepal and 121 against Pakistan. The duo became the fastest Indian pair to complete 1000 partnership runs during the Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. They crossed the mark in just their 13th outing together. The record was previously held by Rohit with Rahul (14) among Indians.
In his individual capacity, Gill has been a force to reckon with this year as the right-hand batter has amassed more than 1,000 runs from 17 matches including four centuries, the one against Bangladesh on Friday being his latest one. He also slammed a double century (208) against New Zealand earlier this year in Hyderabad. His batting average in 2023 has gone past 70.
On Friday as well, India were reduced to 17/2 before Rahul and he added 57 runs for the third wicket. Even as the wickets kept falling at other end, he held the fort at one end to keep the Men in Blue in the hunt. However, with asking run-rate mounting with each passing ball, Gill perished while trying to deposit Mahedi Hasan at long-off boundary for 121 in 44th over with India at 209/7.
Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur then added 40 runs for the eighth wicket to bring their team close. The duo, however, departed in quick succession as India got bowled out for 259 in 49.5 overs. Earlier, India made five changes in their squad giving debut to Tilak Varma and bringing in Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna in place of Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
Their opponents, Bangladesh, also made five changes. Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud were replaced by Tanzid Hasan, Anamul Haque, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and the debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib in the playing XI.
Rohit won the toss and chose to bowl. The decision proved right as Bangladesh were reduced to 59/4 inside 15 overs. But skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy added 101 runs for the fifth wicket to keep them going. Shakib then departed for 80 but Towhid (54) and Nasum Ahmed (44) made sure Bangladesh posted 265/8 in 50 overs. Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for India with three wickets.
