Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma have a combined batting average of 84.70 in their opening stint together, highlighted by three century stands and four partnerships of fifty runs or more.
It’s been over a week since captain Rohit Sharma first suggested that the players wear masks during games. However, in their two subsequent encounters, they have failed to impress in any of these three categories. The pressure to win the World Cup on home soil is reducing with each game. The top order batted poorly in the first game against Pakistan and bowled poorly in the second against Nepal, but Rohit turned things around by showing the team how to be merciless.
Of course, they were in the midst of the Asia Cup’s euphoric honeymoon phase, when advancement to the Super 4 round seemed assured. However, the next week promises to be much more difficult, as India may have to play as many as four matches in only seven days. But first, on Sunday when they play Pakistan, they must solve a long-standing problem. For without that, it’s impossible to imagine this squad making very far in the World Cup.
India has been doing everything it can in the nets against their left-arm throwdown specialist, who has been testing them with approaching deliveries as their struggles against left-arm pacers continue. Except for Rohit and Virat Kohli, who didn’t show up to the Saturday optional training session, the rest of the team was very conscious of keeping their stance open when playing the throwdown specialist.
While opening batsman Shubman Gill didn’t want to put too much emphasis on their recent troubles against Pakistan’s left-arm pacers, he did think that the team’s lack of experience with that kind of bowling had a role. Given the level of competition, you would have used left-arm seamers anyhow. It really doesn’t matter either way. Compared to other teams, we don’t face Pakistan too often. And when you don’t play against such attacks very often, it makes a bit of a difference in the main events,” Gill added, referring to India’s formidable bowling assault.
In Shubman Gill’s first match ever, which took place against Pakistan, he struggled mightily against the moving delivery. Given his lack of footwork, it should not have come as a surprise that Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah exposed him to repeated vulnerability. Shubman Gill insisted he wasn’t aiming to modify anything despite spending the last three training sessions honing his first trigger movement and technique.
When batting successfully, there will inevitably be some dismissals that could have been avoided but for bad luck rather than any technical deficiency. However, “I think you can’t change something in every match because you’re not getting runs, and you have to trust your game and go ahead and get those quick runs,” Gill said.
India will need a solid performance from their openers if they hope to keep up with Pakistan. Gill and Rohit have a combined batting average of 84.70 in their opening stint together, highlighted by three century stands and four partnerships of fifty runs or more. Gill, in contrast to Rohit, still favours ground play and rarely uses the air, even in the first power play.
The game plan is the same for them as it is for any other squad. The opener must get out to a strong start and establish early dominance. Even though our top order did not perform very well in the league encounter, we still managed to post a respectable total, which was about par for that ground. There was a time when we thought we may break 300. Even though we didn’t get off to a great start, I believe the fact that we posted a respectable score is encouraging,” Gill said.
It would be intriguing to see how India decides on their XI with KL Rahul back in the mix. On Friday, Rahul kept wickets in practise, but on Saturday, Ishan Kishan worked with the rest of the slip cordon. Kishan is not only a hot hitter, but also a valuable asset in the middle order, especially when one considers the consistency issues plaguing India’s batting lineup and the composition of Pakistan’s attack.