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Shubman Gill has smashed his maiden T20 ton in the first quarter-final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. A day after getting selected in India’s T20I squad for New Zealand tour, Gill repaid the faith of selectors with a game-changing knock for Punjab against Karnataka.
Gill answered his critics who questioned his strike rate in the T20 format. Gill scored 126 runs from 55 deliveries at a strike rate of 229.09. His maiden T20 ton was studded with 11 fours and nine sixes.
Gill helped Punjab recover from two early blows oh Abhishek Sharma (4) and Prabhsimran Singh (4) in the powerplay overs. He stitched a partnership with Anmolpreet Singh to lay a foundation for a big score. The Gujarat Titans (GT) opener got to his half-century from 30 balls in the 12th over.
The 23-year-old shifted gears from there on. In the next few overs, he reached the nineties. Meanwhile, his partner Anmolpreet fell to Krishnappa Gowtham in the 16th over. Anmolpreet scored 59 runs from 43 deliveries including nine fours in the 151-run partnership.
In the 18th over, Gill got his half-century from 49 deliveries. He needed just 19 more balls to get add 50 more runs to his score. Gill hit four huge sixes after that to get Punjab's score past 200. He missed the chance of becoming first Indian batter to score a 150 in T20 cricket. Vidwath Kaverappa got the prized wicket of Punjab opener. His stupendous knock helped Punjab post a daunting total of 225/4.
Gill is yet to make his T20I debut. He was a part of Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) who won the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy in their maiden season. In the previous season, he scored 483 runs from 16 innings at an average of 34.50 including four half-centuries. He came close to scoring his maiden IPL century but got dismissed for 96. Also, his strike rate was an impressive 132.33.
Gill earned a place in T20I side as openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been rested for the New Zealand tour just after the T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, Rahul is struggling to score in double digits in three innings in T20 World Cup so far.
