Shubman Gill, whose maiden century in the T20 format occurred in the third and final T20I of the series against New Zealand, once again proves that he is the “future of Indian batting.” Gill, who had previously set a record by scoring a double hundred in the one-day international against the Kiwis, reached triple digits for the first time in his career in the shortest format. Gill became the fifth Indian to score a century in a T20I match in just 54 balls.
Gill’s score of 126 at the end of his innings is the highest for an Indian in T20 internationals. Virat Kohli previously held the record for the highest Indian T20I score. In the Asia Cup, Kohli scored an unbeaten 122 runs against Afghanistan. In the match against the Kiwis, Gill beat him.
With the help of 12 fours and seven sixes, Gill continued his excellent form by hitting the New Zealand bowlers all over the Narendra Modi Stadium to score 126 not out in just 63 balls.
Gill has been receiving plenty of criticism for his performances in the shortest format for India of late. With someone like Prithvi Shaw waiting on the bench, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir had said that Gill’s “basic game” doesn’t suit the shortest format as much as Shaw’s does.
At the age of 23 years and 146 days, Gill is the youngest batter to have hit a century in all three formats in international cricket.
He is also the fifth Indian batter to have scored a century in all three formats after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli.
How Pandya helped Gill score his record-breaking ton
“To be able to play how I play, I have to be mentally clear,” Gill said during an interaction with skipper Hardik Pandya on bcci.tv.
Shubman Gill added that after each six he scored, Pandya would come to him and give tips and notes on how to keep playing without getting out. Pandya told him to go slow and not hit too hard.
In the last over of Santner, Hardik asked Gill to make sure he plays New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner carefully. This is the reason Gill decided to play defensively against the spinner and go hard against the other bowlers. Gill also added that the advice made his best game so far both tactically and technically near perfect.
The match was really good for Pandya as well. He captained India to one of their biggest wins ever in T20 and snapped four wickets as well. As he told in the pre-match interview, Pandya as fast as he could but without compromising line and length.
