Shubman Gill: The big weapon in India’s ODI arsenal |

DUBAI: During Shubman Gill’s free-flowing 52-ball 46 against Pakistan on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium, as he carved Shaheen Shah Afridi for three fours in the seventh over, one of the shots stood out. A booming straight drive which showed the hapless bowler the full face of the bat and raced the boundary like a ‘tracer bullet.’ The spectacular stroke, and the follow through, had the signature style of a certain Sachin Tendulkar – the legend who possessed perhaps the best straight drive in the game – in it.
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Apart from his short-arm pull, there’s another Gill shot that his fans have been watching on loop ever since he unleashed it during his match-winning 101 not out off 129 balls against Bangladesh in India’s 2025 ICC Champions Trophy opener at the same venue on Thursday. It came in the ninth over of India’s chase, as he despatched seamer Tanzim Hasan Sakib into the second tier of the stands above deep mid-wicket, leaving even his opening partner and Indian captain Rohit Sharma gasping in awe.
How fortunes change in cricket! Just a few months back, Gill faced a severe existential crisis in his career, after a rough tour of Australia for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy saw him accumulate just 93 runs in three Tests@18.60, with 31 as his highest score. While a finger injury forced him to miss the first Test and certainly affected his performance, the real low point for him was on Day of the fifth final Test at Sydney, when, needlessly distracted by Steve Smith’s sledging, he charged down the track to Nathan Lyon only to edge the ball to a gleeful Smith at slip.
Gill doesn’t think there was anything wrong with his batting in Australia. “I don’t think there was any flaw in my batting in Australia that I couldn’t score runs. But, definitely, sometimes there is a mental aspect and we start focusing on the batting, which leads us to think there has to be some fault in the batting that the runs aren’t coming. But, I don’t think every time it has something to do with batting. It is possible, we are lacking in some other facet. I haven’t worked on any area in particular, but knowing I am going to play white-ball format now and then T20s, so I practised accordingly,” the 25-year-old said before the India versus Pakistan match.

Just after enduring an ordinary time Down Under, Gill showed signs of crawling his way back into form when he cracked a century (102) in Punjab’s innings & 207-run defeat against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in a Ranji Trophy match.
Being the Punjab head coach this season, former India opener Wasim Jaffer, himself an elegant batter like Gill, was impressed by Gill’s work ethics.
“He practiced quite a lot before the game. At the nets, he used to bat additionally for about 30 to 45 minutes. He wanted to bat more, play a lot of balls. When a youngster spends so much time in the nets, that’s something very nice to see,” Jaffer told TOI from Mumbai.
Jaffer felt that Gill was beginning to show signs of being back to his best during his century in that match. “He got out cheaply in the first innings. The wicket had a tennis-ball-like bounce, and the ball was coming slowly off the wicket. He was out caught behind off an inside edge. However, in the second innings, he spent time on the wicket and played beautifully. Obviously, he is not somebody who goes into his shell. He capitalised on the loose balls and got to his century in good time. We made 231, out of which he scored 102, which was nice to see,” Jaffer praised.
“He looked like getting his rhythm back. Obviously, whenever you get a century-and he got one against England (in the ODI series) after that-you get some confidence back. That’s exactly what you see now with Gill,” Jaffer added.
While refusing to share the details of what his advice to Gill was about his game, Jaffer did compliment the young gun for “setting high standards” for himself. “I didn’t ask him about the Australia tour. I did suggest some minor technical things, not anything major really. We spoke at length about what he feels, he had his opinion. He was aware of what I was saying. He is somebody who takes his game very seriously. He sets very high standards for himself,” the 31-Test veteran said.
Raving about Gill’s phenomenal rise, former India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who had to literally ‘vacate’ his spot for Gill in the Indian team, said, “He’s got a tremendous game sense. That’s why his consistency and skill level is top-notch. He knows when to hold back, when to unleash himself. Even at such a young age, he has that temperament and knows the art of scoring centuries. It’s impeccable. I’m very happy that one big superstar is on his way to create history.”
Clearly, Gill, who averages a sensational 62.13 after scoring 2734 runs in 52 ODIs, loves opening the innings with Rohit in the ODIs-the pair has put on 1943 runs in 28 innings@71.96. “The way we play the game in the powerplay is quite different to each other. Rohit bhai likes to play more aerial shots, and tries to hit those big sixes. And I like to play along the ground and pierce those gaps. In between, if I see that the bowler is under pressure, I like to go over the circle. I think that’s the hallmark of us as a pair. We score boundaries with different shots. The bowlers really have to think which areas to target for us, because the areas where we play the shots are different from each other,” Gill said.
“It’s a delight to watch [Rohit] from the non-striker’s end. He has his own style and if at all it helps me to find my own groove. It’s a delight to watch him from the non-striker’s end. We have had some really good partnerships over the past couple of years,” Gill added.
For someone who himself forged a hugely successful opening partnership with Rohit, Dhawan is now taking delight in the success of the Rohit-Gill opening duo, which is taking the bowlers apart in the ODIs. Showering compliments on the pair, Dhawan said, “Both are quality players. Gill has such good skills, he has so much time. Against Bangladesh), he pulled (Tanzim Hossain) and hit a 90m six. You’ve to have great skills to do that.”