Highlights
- This is Shubman Gill's maiden international hundred
- Gill was awarded as the "player of the series"
- Shubman made his ODI debut against New Zealand at Seddon Park on Jan 31, 2019
IND vs ZIM: Another day and another story of young dreams coming true in broad daylight. Shubman Gill must be an extremely relieved man as of now. He has finally delivered what was asked of him for a very long time. The Punjab-based batsman who made his international debut for India in the blues back in 2019 has consistently been facing issues related to form. The opener has this habit of getting himself in and then throwing his wicket away at the crucial juncture of the game. But the Indian team management persisted with him despite people questioning his side in the team. Answering all his critics, Gill today has scored a sublime ODI century which in many ways is special and shows his innate capability as a top-order batsman.
India had won the toss and elected to bat first. With senior players like KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan in the side, the young Shubman Gill had no option, but to play at number 3. Coincidentally, for some reason, Shubhman scored this century from the same position where India talisman Virat Koli bats. Gill has always been considered Kohli's heir due to few parallels in their bottom-hand-dominated gameplay. India was off to a very slow start in the last ODI as the experienced duo of Rahul and Dhawan could only score 63runs in 15 overs. KL Rahul fell prey to Brad Evans and his partner Shikar Dhawan joined him in the dressing room soon after he too fell prey to Zimbabwe's Evans.
ALSO READ: Asia Cup 2022: Yasir Shah backs Virat Kohli, asks home team to be wary of his class
When Gill came out to bat, little did anybody know what he was intending to do or he was planning to approach his innings. Altering his gameplay completely and playing against his reputation, Gill went all guns blazing and left the Zimbabwe players bamboozled and clueless for answers. Shubman Gill who walked out after the likes of Dhawan and Rahul was extremely pleasing to the eyes and at no point in time did it feel that he was having any challenges and made the Zimbabwe bowling look extremely mediocre. Gill amassed a huge individual score of 130 off 97 deliveries at a strike rate of 134.02 with 15 boundaries and 1 six. His innings, propelled India's score to 289 by the end of 50 overs.
Before this, Shubman came pretty close to scoring a century at the Gabba in the last match of the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy as he missed the century by 9 runs. After that when Gill toured the Caribbean islands, his ton was interrupted by rain while he was batting on 98*. Gill's ton has breathed fresh hope into the young Indian betting lineup and as of now, it can be said that the Punjab-based batsman, if he can keep his head in the right place will achieve heights that not many cricketers have.
