Have faith in Shubman: Abhishek

Having played alongside Shubman Gill since the age of 12, Abhishek Sharma knows that it is just a matter of time before his currently off-colour best buddy starts winning T20I matches for India, including games in the upcoming T20 World Cup next year. Gill’s selection in the Indian T20I playing eleven has been questioned after a settled Sanju Samson was benched. The vice-captain in the format has managed only 291 runs in 15 innings at a strike-rate of 137.3.

He struck only four sixes in those games and on Sunday against South Africa in the third T20I, Gill scored a painstaking run-a-ball 28, which didn’t matter much since Abhishek (35 off 18 balls) had given the team a rousing start in a chase of a paltry target of 118.

“I’ll tell you one thing straight away, that trust me, these two guys are going to win matches in World Cup (in February-March) and in this series as well,” Abhishek replied when asked about Gill and skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s poor run of form in the ongoing five-match series which India leads 2-1 right now. When it came to Gill, his closest friend of more than a decade, Abhishek was predictably protective.

“Because I’ve been playing with them since so long, especially with Shubman, so I know which match he can win, which conditions, irrespective of the team, whoever it is,” he said. “So I have a lot of faith in him from the beginning, and I hope everyone will see him very soon and everyone will have faith in him,” added the world’s number one T20 batter.

Once Abhishek got out at a team score of 60, India needed more than 10 overs to score the remaining runs with both Gill and Surya not able to bat freely. “There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers, and as I was batting, I knew that if I gave a good start here, the match could get over in the Powerplay, and that’s what happened.

“...That was the plan for the rest of the batters, that they would just knock out or finish the match, so it was a very simple plan after that,” Abhishek explained the rationale behind taking it easy after a blistering start. Abhishek said he had to keep in mind that in cold December evenings in this part of the country, the pacers would get movement both in the air and off the surface.

“Conditions of course, I mean, as a batter you have to keep those things in mind that the ball is swinging a bit or it’s seaming a bit, so I tried to play a few shots which is suitable for those wickets and pitches, so that’s the plan always.” India’s Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma greet each other between the wickets during the third T20 International cricket match of a series between India and South Africa at HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.