In a choice between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, this superstar is the one Shubman Gill choose.
Since India will host the ODI World Cup in a few months, Shubman Gill’s recent form is encouraging news for the Indian cricket squad. The youthful opener struck 112 against New Zealand in Indore on Tuesday, his fourth ODI century in 21 games. His current 50-over average is 73.76. When Gill reached 112 runs in the Indore match, he tied the record he shared with Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for the joint-most runs (360) scored in a three-game ODI series. Gill has a wealth of experience in the Test format as well.
The difficult subject of picking between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli was posed to Shubman in a video interview that aired on Star Sports on Tuesday. To which Shubman, all of 23 years old, responded: “While my father was a tremendous fan of Sachin Tendulkar, it was Virat Kohli who inspired me to take up cricket. I wasn’t old enough to appreciate cricket when he left the game. With my newfound knowledge of cricket, I have to give the nod to Virat bhai, from whom I have gleaned invaluable information on batting.”
In the third one-day international, Rohit Sharma made his first hundred in three years, while Shubman Gill kept up his blistering form to lead India to 385 for nine. Together, they posted a ferocious opening partnership of 212 runs, with Rohit (101 off 85 balls) reaching triple digits for the first time since January 2020. Gill scored his fourth one-day international century (112 off 78).
On the eve of the game, Rahul Dravid made a joke about how bowlers don’t like to bowl in Indore since the circumstances favour batters. The legendary hitter was onto something there. However, the New Zealand batting lineup continued to have fun and Devon Conway scored a hundred during the chase.