Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
Whenever Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill are batting together in the middle, the memory bank travels back in time by a decade or even more. ‘The Tribune’s’ reports on the Dhruv Pandove age-group tournaments keep echoing in the mind. In one such Under-19 game, Gill’s timely innings had taken Punjab past Vidarbha’s score of 239 for the loss of just two wickets.
Somewhere in September 2025, in the hot and humid climes of Dubai, they were at it again – pulverising their opponents. This time around, it was during a net session, at the ICC Academy. Gill’s batting template was all about timing. Gill has the uncanny ability to hit the ball hard, without seeming to have put much power behind the stroke.
As Kamran Khan, perhaps the most impressive of the net bowlers, told RevSportz, “Any loose delivery that you bowl, Gill smashes it. You have to be very careful while bowling to him”.
Meanwhile, Abhishek’s bazooka hits were based on the massive arc that he creates and the high bat-lift. The onus wasn’t just on the bowlers to outmanoeuvre the ace duo. Yours truly, during a brief chat with one of his old colleagues, had to keep his eyes focused on the trajectory of the ball. Luckily, a few times it went sailing over the heads of the journalists who had gathered to watch the net session.
On enough occasions, Abhishek mis-hit his shots. But the essence of his batting is simple – Forget the previous outcome and give it a mighty thump, the next ball. That tagline has helped Abhishek to become the No. 1 batter in T20Is.
India’s net session, on the eve of their 2025 Asia Cup game against the UAE, wasn’t just about the Punjab batting pair. Suryakumar Yadav, the India skipper, who is returning from an injury, also batted for a while. On Monday, (September 8), he had a light net. But on Tuesday, Suryakumar also was intent on cracking a few meaty blows. And yours truly had to again zoom in on the path of the ball. One of those shots from the willow-wielder seemed to alter its path in the air, but it eventually thudded into the boundary fencing, just in front of the writer.
Interestingly, amidst all the lusty blows from the mainstays of the batting unit, Arshdeep Singh too had a long net. It was right on the part of the management to test the lower order batters’ skills with the willow. You never know, at some point of time in the tournament, India might need six off two deliveries with Arshdeep at the crease. To his credit, Arshdeep muscled a few through the on-side. Although, he could only connect thin air when the bowlers attempted to bowl wider of off-stump.
There was something else to observe: At the time of twilight, neither the fielders nor the few journalists could pick the white Kookaburra ball in the air.
The highlight of the day, however, was the batsmanship of Abhishek and Gill, with shots gushing forth like the uncorking of a champagne. One is flamboyant and full of swagger. The other, elegance personified. Somewhere, their style of batting also tells a little bit about who is the calmer of the two. And who is the naughty one.
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