With ICC Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 set to begin on October 5, the Indian team had started their preparations with experimentations on young players earlier. On this occasion, Shubman Gill assumes his opening partnership with the skipper Rohit Sharma would make their partnership successful.
Shubman Gill on Opening with Rohit For India
India recently announced its squad for Asia Cup 2023 on August 21, 2023, and the team will be assembling in NCA Bengaluru on August 24 before starting the tournament. After Asia Cup, India will have a three-match ODI series against Australia before World Cup.
Young batter Shubman Gill and the Skipper Rohit Sharma are having a brilliant start in ODI cricket, having scored 685 runs at 76.11 after batting together in the limited-over format. On accounting for their partnership together while not opening, their average jumps to 85.37.
Shubman Gill has been performing and adapted well to international cricket, particularly in the ODI format with an average of 62.47 in 27 appearances. He has four centuries, including a double century against New Zealand in one-day internationals.
“I think because his (Rohit’s) targeted areas are a bit different (to mine). He loves to go aerial in the Powerplay,” Gill was quoted as saying by the ‘ICC’.
“And I’m someone who likes to find the gaps and keep getting those boundaries, and he’s someone who likes to hit sixes. So I think that combination works well,” he added.
On speaking about Rohit, Gill said that he gives everyone the freedom to play their natural game.
“It feels great to be able to open up with him, especially knowing that all the focus is on him. He’s someone who likes the other batters to go and just express himself and play the way I want to play the game.
“So in that nature, he gives the players full freedom for how they want to express their game,” said Shubman Gill.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma has made multiple records over his career. The Indian skipper has three double centuries in the ODI format and he holds the record for most centuries in Single World Cup having scored 5 centuries in World Cup 2019.
Rohit shared some of his advice to 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored 171 against the West Indies in Dominica.
“In the middle, it was just about having a chat, letting him know, ‘You belong here’,” said Rohit to the young player.
“That is the most important thing because when you’re playing your first Test match, you kind of keep asking yourself whether you belong here or not.”
