In full flow, Shubman Gill’s bat, adorning a blue sticker of sponsor CEAT on the front and back, can seem less like a piece of wood and more like a magic wand. Such is the nonchalance and grace with which he wields that willow of his. Nowhere does he do it more adeptly than in the 50-over format, where his ranking of No. 1 in the International Cricket Council’s batting charts reflects his pre-eminence.
Over the past month, Gill’s dominance in this version has been reinforced in striking fashion. Opening the batting alongside Rohit Sharma, the 25-year-old has strung together a run of significant scores by dovetailing a bit of pragmatism with oodles of regal elegance. It has got cricket pundits waxing lyrical about his one-day game.
Since India’s ODI series against England began on February 6, Gill has crossed fifty in four out of six matches, which includes three outings in the ICC Champions Trophy. His only real blip came against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday when he was trapped leg-before by Matt Henry on two. Be that as it may, he has registered match-winning hundreds twice in this purple patch and followed up with that now characteristic celebration where he unstraps his helmet, his jet-black hair slicked back, and bows down with his right arm tucked behind to acknowledge the applause of the audience.
Elegant response
The elegant response whenever he reaches the three-figure mark, which he has done eight times in 53 ODI innings, sits well with his understated persona and exquisite batting traits. Soft-spoken off the field and stately in his movements on it, Gill’s run-making revolves around sweet timing without compromising on the aesthetics of his craft. Blessed with a long reach — he stands at 6 feet and one inch — he makes up for his minimal footwork by seemingly getting into position a split-second faster than most and then meeting the ball under his eye with that free-flowing bat swing.
His knock of 46 against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai was a glimpse of Gill at his very best. Though the vice-captain fell just shy of a half-century, there were an array of strokes in that offering that simply took your breath away.
Having just witnessed Rohit being castled by a yorker in Shaheen Afridi’s previous over, a less gifted batter may have just looked to bide his time against the mercurial left-arm pacer. Gill, instead, flipped the pressure right back on Shaheen with three fours in the seventh over of the run chase. Two of them were utterly sumptuous and worthy of repeat viewing, his trademark short-arm pull over midwicket being bettered by a jaw-dropping straight drive two deliveries later. Freeze the frame on his drive down the ground and notice how Gill just leans forward and presents a high front elbow without looking to overhit or bludgeon the ball.
Style without substance, however, is futile at the highest level. What Gill is doing in ODIs is also racking up imposing numbers. In 53 ODIs, he has amassed 2,736 runs at an average of 60.80 and a strike rate of 100.36. No batter, in this format’s history, has had a better average in their first 53 ODIs. If not for the dwindling relevance of this format possibly altering the landscape going forward, Gill seems to be well on his way to becoming a colossus in one-day cricket in much the same way Rohit and Kohli are.
Gill’s pedigree in this format has been established by striking a lovely balance between attack and defence. In contrast to Rohit, who has changed his mindset and willed himself to go after the bowling from the outset, the lanky batter from Punjab likes to size up the opposition attack before pressing the throttle. Even when he struck a 149-ball 208 against the Black Caps in January 2023, for example, his first 23 runs took 36 deliveries. Crucially, Gill rarely fritters away starts in this format, infusing confidence therefore that he will eventually catch up and feast on the bowling.
Troubles in Tests
For the time being, though, effusive praise for Gill will have to be confined to this white-ball variety. For him to garner greater global recognition as a batter of rare quality, he will have to shore up his game in the toughest format. After 59 Test innings, he is yet to hit the heights that were expected once he announced himself with a majestic 91 in his third game at the Gabba in January 2021. Gill’s aggregate in whites is a middling 35.05.
His struggles were encapsulated by his output when India played Australia in Sydney in the final Test of a five-match series in the first week of January. Having returned to the team after being omitted from the fourth Test in Melbourne, he made 20 and 13 before suffering horrendous lapses in judgment in both innings. His dismissals, unlike his silken strokes in the ongoing Champions Trophy, didn’t quite make for a joyous watch. In the first dig, he had put in the hard yards to chew up 63 balls before stepping out to Nathan Lyon off the final delivery before the lunch break and edging to Steve Smith at slip.
Second time around, with Rishabh Pant just beginning to counter-attack, Gill couldn’t resist joining in. He decided to charge at medium-pacer Beau Webster and hoick across the line, only to get a faint inside edge to Alex Carey behind the stumps.
Finishing the Test tour of Australia with 93 runs in five innings at 18.60 undermined a lot of the progress he had actually made in the format in 2024. Before the series Down Under, he was averaging 47.41 from 10 Tests in the calendar year. But by not finding a way to surmount the challenges in the oceanic country, Gill has invited uncomfortable questions on his technique and temperament for the longest version.
Wasim Jaffer, who had the know-how to craft big hundreds against the red ball, weighed in on Gill’s predicament. Jaffer is Punjab’s coach in domestic cricket and observed Gill from close quarters when the latter played a Ranji Trophy game against Karnataka in Bengaluru in January after returning from Australia.
“In ODI cricket, he knows how to get runs. He has found that formula,” Jaffer, 47, told The Hindu. “On pitches that spin or where there is sideways movement, it’s different. But he is a very fine player. He wants to improve and wants to be the best. He spends a lot of time in the nets. He is somebody who is always open to ideas. I feel with time, he is going to be one of the best players. With his work ethic, he is going in the right direction.”
In a tangle
As Jaffer alluded, when the ball deviates in the air or off the seam, Gill tends to get himself into a tangle. Not someone who takes a big stride forward, Gill’s trigger movement is a minor back-and-across shuffle, and he is often lured into accessing the ball outside off-stump with his hard hands. It leads to edges that invariably carry to the slip cordon. With his bat prone to coming down at an angle from gully, the nip-backer has also unsettled him in the past.
These aspects will be put through a rigorous examination in a few months when India tours England for another five-Test series. But according to Jaffer, the reason for Gill’s strange dismissals in Sydney was down to the matter circulating in his head rather than the nitty-gritty of batting technique.
“It is more mental than technical. What goes on in your head at that point of time makes you do such things,” the former India opener said. “But not just him, everybody else also had a tough time (in Australia). But he will be fine. He will be looking forward to continuing to do well in the Champions Trophy and then the IPL. England is going to be a big challenge for him.”
That is a given. But before he navigates his shortcomings against the moving ball in the English summer, an opportunity to spearhead India’s charge to another ICC title beckons in Dubai. It should spur Gill to unfurl some more magic with his bat at the business end of this Champions Trophy.
Published – March 03, 2025 12:00 am IST
