That Shubman Gill is the future of Indian cricket is a well-known and accepted school of thought. However, the 23-year-old is also making the present his own with big knocks, milestones, breaking and creating records perhaps every week.
Less than a month after he smashes his maiden ODI double century, which itself was a month after his maiden Test century, Shubman Gill, all of 23 years old, whacked his maiden T20I century on February 1st, against New Zealand, and sent the buzzing Ahmedabad crowd, which included Sachin Tendulkar and other BCCI dignitaries, into raptures.
Before this match, Shubman Gill had averaged only 15 in only 5 T20Is, and with Prithvi Shaw on the bench, there were doubts whether Gill could replicate his success from the other two formats into T20Is. He proved to everyone that he can. And did it in a spectacular fashion.
On a batting surface that is miles better than what he batted on in the last two games, Shubman Gill plundered 126*(63) – becoming only the 5th Indian batsman to hit centuries in all three formats, following Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli.
Shubman Gill surpasses Virat Kohli’s score to set new record for India in T20Is
With this thunderous knock of 126*, Shubman Gill also broke Virat Kohli’s record for the highest score by an Indian in men’s T20I.
Last year, Virat Kohli hit a century against Afghanistan in Dubai in the Asia Cup, which was Kohli’s maiden T20I century, a score of 122*. Now, Gill is the new holder of the record for the highest individual innings by an Indian in T20Is. At third place if Rohit Sharma for his 118 vs Sri Lanka in 2017.
India pile up 234 on the back of Shubman Gill’s ton
Gill’s belligerent century included 12 fours and 7 gigantic sixes as he batted at a strike rate of exactly 200, scoring 126* off 63 balls. 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.
