'Shubman Gill is like a table fan in front of Abhishek Sharma's storm...': Ex-India star's blunt take on Suryakumar Yadav-led side's opening combination

Former India cricketer Sadagoppan Ramesh compared Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma's opening partnership to a table fan and a storm, respectively. Notably, since Gill's T20I comeback, he has been featuring as an opener with his old teammate and childhood friend Abhishek, where the southpaw is renowned for his explosive batting, and Gill is known for his relaxed batting.

Sadagoppan Ramesh on Abhishek and Gill's duo

Ramesh reckons that Gill’s contribution seems unnoticed, but when Abhishek falls for a low score, Gill’s batting seems to be ineffective.

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"When the Abhishek Sharma storm strikes, India score big. Infact the Abhishek Sharma – Shubman Gill combination feels like a table fan (Gill) during a storm (Abhishek). So we also assume that the days the storm is in full force, the table fan is operating fine as there is a strong wind and hence no problems. But when the storm doesn’t strike, we’ll ask why there is no air coming out of the table fan in the powerplay,” Ramesh said on his YouTube channel.

“The powerplay is the most important phase with the bat in a T20 game. Depending on who the openers are and based on the start they give, if the rest of the batting lineup capitalises on it, the end score can be formidable. If a player like Abhishek Sharma maximises that phase, it transforms into powerful play. Yet if he gets out, it turns into a powercut. So Abhishek Sharma will be the biggest X-factor for India in the T20 World Cup,” said Ramesh.

Gill, who was appointed as Rohit Sharma's sucessor to lead India in Tests, was rewarded with T20 vice-captaincy before the Asia Cup 2025. BCCI's decision to promote him as vice-captain was made, it became inevitable that Gill would be part of all the T20I games India were playing.

Team India are currently in Australia for the five-match T20I series, where the Men in Blue are leading 2-1 after their second consecutive win in the fourth T20I, as the series opener was washed out due to rain.

India openers Abhishek and Gill are the highest run-getter in the T20I series scoring 140 and 103 runs respectively in four outings.