23-year-old Shubman Gill has gone from a fringe player to a certainty in India’s ODI team in a space of two ODI series – vs Sri Lanka and New Zealand – and 21 days.
In the Sri Lanka ODI, Gill was preferred over Ishan Kishan, who had smashed a double century in December in Bangladesh. But Gill, who had had a superb 2022 in ODIs and had impressed everyone with his consistency and strike rate, justified his position and vindicated the management’s call by hitting 2 centuries and a double century of his own to cement his place in the ODI side as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner.
Gill, who finished as the Player of the Series vs New Zealand, broke a number of records this month. There are several records that he can break going forward this year if he keeps up with his form and consistency.
Here are 3 big records that Shubman Gill can break in ODIs in 2023:
Shubman Gill can break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 1894 runs in a calendar year from 1998
With the kind of start Shubman Gill has had in ODIs in 2023 – he’s scored 567 runs already in just 6 innings – there is a great chance that the young opener could break Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing record of 1894 runs when Tendulkar was in red hot form in 1998.
India will play at least 20 ODIs this year – 3 ODI vs AUS, 3 ODI vs WI, Asia Cup (6 if India in final), 3 ODI vs AUS, 9 potential matches in WC. Since this is a World Cup year, Gill is unlikely to be rested from ODIs. If he can remain fit and continue to score runs and hold his place in the XI, with the kind of good pitches so far, Gill has a solid opportunity to surpass Tendulkar’s world-record tally.
Fastest India batsman to score 1500 ODI runs
Currently, Shubman Gill stands with 1254 ODI runs in 21 innings at an average of 73. Shreyas Iyer holds the record for the fastest Indian to reach 1500 ODI runs that Iyer completed in 34 innings. So Gill has 13 innings to score only 246 more to break Iyer’s record, having already broken Virat Kohli’s record of the fastest Indian to 1000 ODI runs.
Going past Rohit Sharma’s record ODI highest score of 264
This one seemed a bit too much for anyone a while ago. But with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill smashing double centuries in consecutive months, the thought of breaking the ODI world record of Rohit Sharma’s 264 runs now seems plausible.
As mentioned, the pitches in ODI cricket have become too flat – not least in India where India threatened to even score 500 runs in Indore when Gill and Sharma whacked a 200-run opening partnership in about 25 overs.
What helps Gill is that he doesn’t take time or balls to settle in and then explodes. Yes, he’s not as aggressive as Rohit or Warner or even Kishan in the first powerplay, but Gill motors along nicely at a strike rate of around 100, and that only grows as his innings progress.
