India opener Shubman Gill became only the 5th Indian batsman to hit centuries in all three formats when on Wednesday the right-hander smacked 126* off 63 balls against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the series-deciding 3rd T20I.
The last couple of months has been simply marvelous for Shubman Gill. The 23-year-old registered his maiden Test ton in Bangladesh in December; in January, he hit his maiden ODI double century, and today, in Ahmedabad, with the legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar seated in the stands, Gill whacked 12 fours and 7 sixes in his belligerent maiden T20I ton.
Two of those sixes were simply jaw-dropping, because those were not really the classy, traditionally orthodox shots that Shubman Gill plays. Those, to Ben Lister, showcased Gill’s strength and the way he was seeing the ball and hitting it across the line despite the pitch and conditions offering something to the pacers.
Left-arm pacer Ben Lister had a T20I to forget as he was smoked for 42 runs in his 4 overs. He might, though, remember those two sixes by Shubman Gill where the batsman went across the stumps a little and heaved the delivery which were in line with the stumps to over mid-wicket region with utter disdain and power.
Again, unlike his usual classy self where he uses his feet, this time Gill’s feet remained firm as he put his all in those two big hits.
The BCCI uploaded the video of these two sixes by Shubman Gill off Ben Lister’s bowling:
Into the night sky & out of the park 🔥🔥@ShubmanGill is dealing in sixes 💥#TeamIndia | #INDvNZ | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/OuMivnJXRw
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 1, 2023
Shubman Gill ended his knock at 126*(63) – which is also now the highest T20I score by an Indian batsman, surpassing Virat Kohli’s 112* vs Afghanistan from last year’s Asia Cup and Rohit Sharma’s 118 vs Sri Lanka from 2017. Courtesy of this fantastic hundred from the opener Shubman Gill, and other quickfire knocks from Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, India finished with a massive total of 234.
