It seems a long time ago now that Shubman Gill was struggling against Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah’s high-pace swing bowling and seam movement on the September 2 India vs Pakistan match in the Asia Cup 2023 in Pallekele. For today, on September 10, Sunday, in Colombo, Shubman Gill flipped the script and hunted down the Pakistani new-ball pacers to rip open the game for India at the start in the Super 4 round.
In the Grop A match 8 days ago, Shubman Gill had scored 10 runs in 32 balls, dancing to the tunes of the movement of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah in Pallekele.
He was trolled mercilessly on social media for his poor, uncomfortable, struggle-filled outing. Today, the same set of fans applauded him and hailed him for his sensationally good batting against the same new-ball pair in Colombo.
Between these two knocks was a breezy innings of 67* runs off 62 balls against Nepal. Though the Nepal bowlers were no match for Shaheen and Naseem, it did provide Gill with some useful game time in the middle, and boosted his confidence to take down the Pakistani pacers today.
It was captain Rohit Sharma who started off the proceedings with a sixer in the first over to Shaheen Afridi – this happened the first time in Shaheen’s ODI career that someone smacked him for a maximum in the first over itself – before Shubman Gill took over and his intent was clear right from the start of his innings.
He took 3 fours in Shaheen’s second over, including an audacious walk down the track to chip him over mid-wicket. Shaheen came for revenge in this third over, but Gill creamed him for three more fours – a sweet straight drive over mid-on before cramming two beautiful cover boundaries.
Fans went gaga over Shubman Gill’s brilliant intent-filled batting against Shaheen Afridi and posted some hilarious memes.
Best memes on Shubman Gill’s takedown of Shaheen Afridi:
Sachin and Sara watching Shubman Gill thrashing Pakistani fast bowlers pic.twitter.com/wpGlJNstsO
— Pakchikpak Raja Babu (@HaramiParindey) September 10, 2023
Clearly, even Pakistan fielders are enjoying Shubman Gill bat. pic.twitter.com/CMg6588eX8
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) September 10, 2023
Pic 1: Shaheen Afridi bowling to Rohit Sharma
Pic 2: Shaheen Afridi bowling to Shubman Gill pic.twitter.com/Bq0vXw0wRK— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) September 10, 2023
Shaheen Afridi after bowling to Shubman Gill today pic.twitter.com/jqQVhm73i3
— Ankit Pathak 🇮🇳 (@ankit_acerbic) September 10, 2023
"They can't bowl him!" Shubman Gill. What a talent!
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) September 10, 2023
Shubman Gill owns Shaheen Afridi😎 pic.twitter.com/jGofbxUT8j
— Arun Singh (@ArunTuThikHoGya) September 10, 2023
jub bhagwan ka hi haath ho sar pe toh kya naseem kya shaheen pic.twitter.com/VO1bHrOUte
— Neeche Se Topper (@NeecheSeTopper) September 10, 2023
jub bhagwan ka hi haath ho sar pe toh kya naseem kya shaheen pic.twitter.com/VO1bHrOUte
— Neeche Se Topper (@NeecheSeTopper) September 10, 2023
Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
