Shubman Gill started brightly in cold Dharamsala during the third T20I against South Africa on Sunday. There was no scoreboard pressure. India were chasing 118 for victory and, even in seaming conditions, Abhishek Sharma was making batting look like a walk in the park. Gill was content to play second fiddle. But once Abhishek was dismissed for an 18-ball 35, India’s T20I vice-captain seemed to go into a shell.
In the end, a run-a-ball 28, the latter half of which resembled an ODI knock, was not detrimental to India’s cause. The hosts were always ahead in the game, but from a personal point of view, Gill would have liked to see things through. The 26-year-old has scores of 4, 0 and 28 in the three T20Is of the five-match series, and with Sanju Samson warming the bench, he must be feeling the pressure.
India had won 14 of their 17 T20Is with Abhishek and Sanju opening the innings when Gill was not part of the set-up. Since returning to the T20I fold as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy before the Asia Cup earlier this year, Gill has scored 291 runs in 15 matches at an average of 24.25. His strike rate is in the 120s. There is a school of thought that his tweaked stance is proving to be an impediment in the shortest format.
Before the five-Test series in England in the summer, Gill changed his stance and became more side-on. It worked wonderfully for him as a Test batter. Returning with more than 750 runs from England was Gavaskaresque. However, in the ‘fast-food’ version of the game, his range appears slightly restricted. Pravin Amre, the former India batter and now a renowned coach, begged to differ.
“I think those are very small adjustments and it’s more about the mindset,” Amre told RevSportz on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Monday. “He scored more than 750 runs in England in difficult conditions and I’m confident that in the coming time he will adjust. It’s all about getting that one fifty. In two months’ time we have the T20 World Cup and I’m sure he will be ready for that.”
One mitigating factor for Gill is that, so far, the matches in the ongoing series have not been played in typical T20 conditions. It remains to be seen whether the pitches are more batting-friendly in the remaining two games.
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