Gill arrives, but will he be there for the ICC World Cup?

At an era when the seeming endless bi-lateral international cricket fixtures clog the mind, so much so that even some standout performances fail to stand the test of time, Shubman Gill’s 208 is likely to stay alive in the memory for quite a while. The social media had been gushing about his effort since Wednesday evening – and understandably so.

A standout tweet was that of Michael Vaughan, the former England skipper, who put the classy Indian’s effort in perspective. ‘’For a few years I have thought @Shubman Gill has the gift to be one of the best in the world – looks like he is starting to believe now…incredible innings,’’ wrote Vaughan. This very much sums up the Gill story so far.

For the past five years since Gill took his bow in the IPL as a precocious teenager, on the back of an eye-catching campaign during Under-19 Indian team’s World Cup triumph in 2018, he was touted to be Indian batting’s next big thing. It’s not every wannabe star who finds an admirer in Sunil Gavaskar, still a purist at heart, as the Little Master had been lavish in his praise about the Punjab batter’s languid grace, technique and the time at his disposal to play his shots. And he had not been alone in this.

If there was often a question mark, it was about Shubman’s strike-rate in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ jersey. There had been days when he could start finding the gaps and get off to a fluent start but it was clear that here was a batter who needed time to settle down and flowered as the innings progressed – but the six-over powerplay madness was perhaps not for him.

‘’He’s (Shubman) is just living upto his potential…many more to come,’’ was the cryptic remark from Dravid as the entire dressing room rose to pay tribute to their teammate’s fabulous effort. The Indian chief coach would certainly know, as Shubman had been under his fold as the youth team coach.

It’s to the credit of the somewhat diffident 23-year-old from Fazilka in Punjab that he could hold his own in the slambang environment of the T20 format over five seasons, but there should be no qualms about admitting that he is a rare breed who is cut out for the 50-overs format and Test cricket. This is where the Rahul Dravid-Rohit Sharma regime deserves some credit for keeping the faith in him as an opener in the longer haul against Sri Lanka in the last series and then the Kiwis – ahead of Ishan Kishan even after the latter’s explosive double century in Bangladesh.

  A classy 116 against a mediocre Sri Lankan attack barely few days back had shown Shubman was in good touch, but the innings in Hyderabad – studded by the shower of boundaries and sixes all round the wicket has now left the entire cricketing fraternity in awe. The fact that Kiwis did not have two of their best bowlers – Trent Boult and Tim Southee in the middle – can hardly take away the credit from the man of the moment who has certainly worked on generating more power in his aerial shots.

 ‘’He’s (Shubman) is just living upto his potential…many more to come,’’ was the cryptic remark from Dravid as the entire dressing room rose to pay tribute to their teammate’s fabulous effort. The Indian chief coach would certainly know, as Shubman had been under his fold as the youth team coach.

 Going forward, does the innings guarantee Shubman a place in the playing XI in the ICC World Cup at home? Not yet, and the same holds true for Kishan as the Indian team management will most probably toe the conservative line and get KL Rahul to multi-task behind the stumps. The best Shubman can do is to keep pushing the selectors – and that’s exactly what he has done in the New Year!